Steering wheel capacitive control

A system for activating a function by selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) element on a screen of a vehicle using a capacitive controller comprising:

• one or more processors configured to:
• detect an active selection of a first GUI element on the screen of the vehicle selectable using the capacitive controller positioned on a steering wheel of the vehicle;
• detect a movement of a finger of a driver in the vehicle across the capacitive controller on the steering wheel of the vehicle;
• determine a direction of the movement of the finger;
• and
• automatically move the active selection to a second selectable GUI element on the screen based on the direction of the movement of the finger, the second selectable GUI element being closest to the first GUI element in the direction of the movement of the finger;
• calculate a plurality of distances between a trajectory of the movement of the finger and a plurality of selectable GUI elements for moving the active selection to a third selectable GUI element of the plurality of selectable GUI elements;
• and
• determine to move the active selection to the third selectable GUI element based on a comparison of the plurality of distances between the trajectory of the movement of the finger and the plurality of selectable GUI elements, the third selectable GUI element being closest to the second selectable GUI element.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for activating a function by selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) element on a screen of a vehicle using a capacitive controller comprising:

• one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to:
• detect an active selection of a first GUI element on the screen of the vehicle selectable using the capacitive controller positioned on a steering wheel of the vehicle;
• detect a movement of a finger of a driver in the vehicle across the capacitive controller on the steering wheel of the vehicle;
• determine a direction of the movement of the finger;
• and
• automatically move the active selection to a second selectable GUI element on the screen based on the direction of the movement of the finger, the second selectable GUI element being closest to the first GUI element in the direction of the movement of the finger;
• calculate a plurality of distances between a trajectory of the movement of the finger and a plurality of selectable GUI elements for moving the active selection to a third selectable GUI element of the plurality of selectable GUI elements;
• and
• determine to move the active selection to the third selectable GUI element based on a comparison of the plurality of distances between the trajectory of the movement of the finger and the plurality of selectable GUI elements, the third selectable GUI element being closest to the second selectable GUI element.