METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMOTIVE VARIABLE IMPEDANCE TOUCH SENSOR ARRAY

The present invention relates to automotive interface systems and methods. In one embodiment, an automotive interface system includes a steering wheel and an integrated interpolated variable impedance array that comprises a grid of sensing elements. The sensing elements are configured to power on simultaneously and to simultaneously generate multiple currents along multiple current paths in response to sensing a touch wherein the amount of current generated by a sensing element of the grid is directly proportional to the force applied by the touch. The automotive interface system also includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a processor communicatively coupled to the interpolated variable impedance array that are configured to receive the multiple currents along multiple current paths and determine a location, a duration, an area, and a force of the touch from the multiple currents along multiple current paths.