Today we visited Gentex Corporations which had a very modern facility and were extremely welcoming towards us. They emphasized that Gentex is an innovative company that is prepared for the future of technology. They have their main production facility in Zeeland, MI. Most of the production is done in-house in the Zeeland location. They make their own PCBs and electronics which I thought was really nice because they can ensure quality more easily than if they outsourced. The Zeeland location also has automated production lines and quality equipment to test vibrations and temperature among other things. One thing Gentex is known for is Electronically Dimming Windows. These windows can be dimmed to various degrees with the push of a button. They make up a significant portion of Gentex sales and are included on Boeing Dreamliner planes.
Gentex has advanced technology relating to rear view and side mirrors. Their rear view mirrors can toggle between a standard reflective surface and a camera display of behind the car. They include an option to display the side mirrors in the rear view display and can alert the driver when a vehicle is in their blind spot. It seem really user friendly in the sense that the driver can customize whether the rear view display shows just the rear or includes the side mirrors. Gentex recommends using a setting that stitches together the views of the three cameras when driving in urban areas.
I thought it was really fascinating when they showed the different rear view mirror hardware housings to satisfy the markets in different continents. The North American design had some exposed wiring and did not have a housing that covered all the hardware completely. This is unlike Europe and Asia which both had a housing completely covering it. I could tell that they put a lot of thought into how to minimize the space needed on the windshield and kept in mind that distractions and obstructions of visions had to be minimized. This can also be seen in how they made the rear view display look like the view would look using a standard reflective mirror; they tried to make it natural in a way to avoid attracting too much of the driver’s attention.
Another thing Gentex is working on is a built-in module that will pay tolls automatically. This would take the place of the EZPass or IPass that many have adhered to the inside of their front windshield for tolls. This particular product does not seem all that game-changing to me personally but the presenter mentioned that it can be extended to applications such as paying for gas or coffee automatically.
Gentex owns Homelink which works on integrating technology into the home. So, one version of their mirrors involve buttons that can be programmed to, for example, execute a set of commands upon nearing one’s home such as unlocking smart locks, opening garage doors, turning on lights, and communicating with Amazon’s Alexa. This is interesting but comes with inherent security concerns. To address this concern, Gentex has developed biometric iris identification for which a user simply has to look into the rear view mirror and is quickly identified. Once a positive identification is made, different features such as the ability to unlock one’s home or make automatic toll payments can be enabled. This biometric identification has a setting that allows the car owner to create restrictions on aspects like speed, location, and Homelink features for other users of the car. Gentex emphasized that this could be used for geofencing and monitoring for parents who allow their children to use their car.
Overall, Gentex had a lot of very interesting and innovative products and ideas that could really change the experience one has while driving a car. They seem to have a focus on quality and forward thinking; also safety and usability seem very important to them. I really admire their passion to drive automotive technology forward by advancing their products.