Continental's 'Speakerless' Car Uses Interior Surfaces To Generate Sound

Thanks to an ever increasing pressure to reduce emissions, cars need to get much lighter. There are obvious ways of achieving that goal, like the increased use of materials like aluminium, but Continental is suggesting something you probably didn’t consider: ditching all the car’s speakers.

We’re not talking about doing away with the sound system altogether. No: the German firm is suggesting that instead of installing a bunch of heavy speakers - of which cars seem to have an increasing amount of these days - the existing surfaces of the cabin can be used to generate sound.

On a test vehicle, Continental has installed a series of compact actuators that “excite suitable surfaces to thus generate a natural, 3D sound experience.” Microvibrations put through things like the roof lining, door cards and even the seats generate sound waves, without the need for single speaker.

Continental claims this doesn’t come at the detriment of sound quality - in fact the company seems to suggest it sounds better than a conventional system. And it does save quite a bit of weight - the Continental system tips the scales at around 1kg, compared to 15kg for the equivalent conventional audio setup.

With much less space required there are packaging advantages to think about, as well as design benefits - no longer does a designer’s clean, fancy interior need to be “interrupted” by bulky speakers.

It’s early days for the technology, so don’t expect in-car speakers to die out any time soon. But this is certainly something to keep an eye (and ear) out for…