Nokia’s patent application relies on steering wheel touch media controls

Nokia might be a smartphone manufacturing company, but that does not mean they do not have interests elsewhere. Yes, Nokia did not get themselves involved knee deep in the world of vehicles, but this recently published patent application pointed to a possible technology that is capable of detecting vibrations in the steering wheel in order to enable the driver to gain control of different functions, ranging from music to GPS and other components through the simple act of touching specific spots on the wheel itself.

I guess there is no need to bother with buttons in this case, but rather, temporal sensing will be able to let one register input on the steering wheel. Filtering is used to prevent the wheel from interpreting speed bumps as cues to perform different functions. It would seem that if this idea catches on, Nokia will most probably license this patent out instead of to build a piece of hardware by themselves. Any idea which automotive company would make the first plunge?