Interior supplier Yanfeng has revealed its next step in its effort to attack germs including COVID-19 inside cars.
Its Experience in Motion 2021 Shared (XiM21S) concept, which is due early next years, Yanfeng Technology Chief Technology Officer Han Hendriks told Automotive News Europe.
The first solution is applying anti-bacterial coatings to kill germs on high-touch areas such as handles.
The second employs an ultraviolet light feature first shown in the XiM20 concept and reported on by ANE last autumn.
"We have launched a technology that uses UVC (ultraviolet-C) light, which has the spectrum that can actually kill 99.9 percent of all bacteria and viruses, including the COVID-19 virus, within a matter of minutes," Hendriks said.
"This is not a light technology that we have invented," the CTO said. "It's being used to clean hospital operating rooms. But we have developed a solution where it can be integrated into the overhead console."
Currently, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says there is limited published data about the wavelength, dose, and duration of UVC radiation required to inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.