Is this the end of the dash as we know it?

SWITCHES, buttons and indicator stalks are all set to disappear in a dramatic dashboard change being engineered as part of moves to raise the standard of motoring safety. Instead, all the features they manage could be coming under the direct command of drivers’ voices by 2012.

While automatic transmission, satellite navigation and a plethora of assistance systems have turned operating the family car into ‘child’s play’, evidence is mounting that the proliferation of instrument panel gadgetry is posing a threat to safe travel by presenting potential distractions to the driver.

Work

Intensive development work is under way to replace traditional switchgear with systems that require less attention from the person behind the wheel and progress toward the nextgeneration instrument panel has already reached an advanced stage at SEAT, the Spanish arm of the Volkswagen Group.

“We belong to the generation that has seen the biggest change in technology and I can tell you that we are well on the way with this – I think we will be ready with it in four years’ time,” said design director Luc Donckerwolke.

Based in Martorell, near Barcelona, Mr Donckerwolke’s design team is concentrating on using just two new systems to replace most instrument panel functions.

“What I’m thinking of is voice control and a small frame mounted by the driver’s side, designed to incorporate elements to guide the fingers. What we need is a single operating standard for all the various components and I believe this is not that far away from reality.

“You could have slots where your finger could slide and the function of the slots could be changed. For example, we could switch on the lights or operate the wipers just by sliding a finger across the slot. You could go further and it could operate the radio. There could be a voice input and the slider would reconfigure so that it dealt with the window function or other things.

“This is my vision and the key is to make it intuitive, otherwise you have lost all the potential benefits. I’d like to see this operating system applied to every car,” he said.

Mr Donckerwolke, who has injected fresh life into the Spanish brand since moving from Lamborghini three years ago, is serious about the dangers of driver distraction.

He explained: “The first element of safety is active, about concentrating on driving and helping avoid accidents in the first place, so the architecture of the dashboard is a big element.

“On the latest Ibiza model, the dash is slanted forward to force the eyes toward the front of the car: I’m trying to avoid too many lines and concentrate elements so vision is not blocked by the black panel of the radio or the air conditioning control.

“What I really want is to get rid of all instrumentation and screens. People want big screens and I’m telling them to forget it because less is more – we need reduction. I want an interface that is tactile. I want people to be able to operate systems without having to look down. The problem with touch screens is that you have to look at them – I love the iPhone, but try sending an SMS from one while driving and it creates problems. It’s just the same when you force people to look at a screen on the dashboard.

Landscape

“I believe we have to landscape the inside of a car to be tactile and operate via voice recognition. We have been influenced by the aero industry, but people in planes don’t have to watch for green lights or look out for pedestrians, so we need to step back and think differently.”

According to Mr Donckerwolke, the end of the highly stylised dashboard is in sight. “Look at the dash in the original 911, then look at the one in the Jeep. Both generate a landscape. I’d like an extension of the exterior in the interior, so you don’t get isolated from the core business of driving and being safe.

Extension

“The car is an intimate extension of your sphere. After eight hours at work, you want to feel good during your journey home. We need to reduce the stress of driving, to make it something like a reflex. When I was at Lamborghini, the interior had to be like a jet fighter, designed to keep you concentrated at 200 mph. In that situation, an aftermarket radio is an absolute nonsense because it has buttons and things that are distracting.

“For me, that philosophy should apply to all cars. If it’s good for a car that does 200 mph, it will be much better for the ordinary car and the family motorist. It’s up to us to make sure that everybody is safe from the very first time they drive. The driving environment has to be free from stress and it is our responsibility to make it attractive but extremely safe.”

Mr Donckerwolke’s rationale wins enthusiastic support from Keith Ryder, assistant director of design at Peugeot in France. He said: “There’s no doubt that things need to change. I’ve just been driving a competitor’s car that I rate highly and was rather surprised – and disappointed – to discover that the sat-nav screen was not positioned well. To make matters worse, I found the controls incredibly complex – I think they are dangerous until you become familiar with the equipment.

“Unfortunately, what I’m talking about is not uncommon and it highlights the fact that a car is a potentially dangerous machine and that we have to respond to the need to make it more simple to operate. I’m all in favour of voice activation – this is a good move because it would cut out fiddling with controls and would create a much safer driving environment. I’m sure that in future we will have sensors that make the car respond automatically to speed zones and this should also result in a big improvement in safety.

“But in ridding ourselves of certain controls, we need to be selective in what we keep and how we treat it. It’s important that we avoid visual pollution because interiors are an important part of upgrading the perception of the brand.”

Mr Ryder says that in order to create the sensation of space and a sporty ambience, the interior of the current 308 model was designed to be as simple as possible.

“We like to keep our dashboards classical and I believe the simpler they are, the better they become,” he said,

“I believe that going for simplicity will not erode what we’ve been working toward. I’d see it as an advantage to fill the space left by objects that have been removed with different materials and higher quality fittings. We can do all kinds of things with a fascia that didn’t have buttons and switches…for example, we could have a stitch line right in the centre section of the car.

“I can imagine all kinds of developments for interiors if that was the case, and if all the new control gear can be simplified and properly packaged, it will be a huge step forward. Take a look at cars from the 1950s and 1960s: they used to have dashboards that were planks with a few dials and rocker switches and were fantastic.”

But, Mr Ryder insists he is not trumpeting retro design saying: “What I’m talking about is being modern in the proper sense with design that has a sense of feeling. We have to make interiors that continue to satisfy buyers – the last thing they want to feel is that they’re getting nothing for their money. If there is to be a new architecture, we have to balance our designs. I think it can be fabulous – designers are just waiting for the opportunity and freedom to go off on a great new tangent.”

BMW’s flagship limousine courted controversy seven years ago when it introduced iDrive, the feature that represented an automotive application to the findings of a relatively new science for the first time. Today, the cabins of other cars also reflect the benefits of Human Machine Interface (HMI) and, in its latest C-D segment passenger cars, Ford employs the intuitive logic pioneered by mobile phones to help drivers find their way around cruise control, audio and in-car phone systems with minimum distraction.

Convinced

However, Dr Andreas Keinath is convinced that the Munich manufacturer’s next-generation iDrive gadgetry retains the lead in simplified controls and safer driving.

“We take driver distraction very seriously and have a long history of research and working with other original equipment manufacturers to develop methodology to measure visual distraction and cognitive distraction. Seven years ago, iDrive was our first attempt at making life simpler in the cabin and the latest 7 Series shows how we have addressed the issue of the arrangement of controls,” says BMW Group’s manager of HMI evaluation.

In the new car, launched at the autumn Paris Motor Show, the size of the main controller is reduced and it is positioned to fall more readily to hand on the centre console. Designed to operate like a computer mouse, it is flanked by buttons overseeing menus for the CD, radio, telephone and satellite navigation systems plus others for the main menu, a ‘back’ feature and options. Significantly, all the buttons by the controller are given slightly different shapes that Dr Keinath claims are easily remembered.

“We have worked to allow the optimum intuition in use. The research we have carried out has shown that drivers are normally very good workload managers who are well able to switch between driving and changing a radio station – but of course, it is vitally important that they can interrupt their task whenever they want and do it without distracting themselves from the road ahead,” he said.

The result of BMW’s research is a string of notable developments that allow its head-up display (HuD) unit to provide much more safety-related information. As before, it shows speed, direction arrows from the navigation system, cruise control functions and check control features, but new features embrace iBrake, a pre-collision warning system incorporated in models fitted with adaptive cruise control with Stop and Go.

This feature detects rapidly slowing or stationary traffic ahead and warns the driver with a red symbol if the car fails to reduce speed. Should the driver fail to respond, an audible signal accompanies a more prominent HuD symbol as brake system pressure is increased to provide maximum braking force when the pedal is pressed.

Activated

Should the lane departure warning system become activated, another HuD symbol appears. And the miniature road signs that signal the new speed limit warning system are also replicated in the head-up display, as are those that appear on cars equipped with night vision – an infra-red camera-based pedestrian recognition system.

“Symbols representing all our warning systems are shown on the instrument cluster, but our idea is to also generate all the warnings directly in the driver’s field of vision. We think it is very important that the driver does not have to take his or her eyes from the road to know that any system is in operation,” said Dr Keinath.

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