display
When Tesla showed the first interior photos of the Model S in 2009, the drivers were amazed.
Because there wasn't much more to be seen on it than a large, rectangular touchscreen.
But twelve years later, the Americans can no longer lure them from their reserves.
Not only that the competition has long since followed suit and screwed similarly impressive displays right into small cars like the Renault Clio.
Rather, more and more manufacturers are now installing the very large cinema in the cockpit and replacing the entire dashboard with a single screen.
This is no wonder, says Jan Burgard from strategy consultant Berylls in Munich: “After all, many customers are more likely to impress today with the centimeter information on the screen diagonal than with the number of cylinders,” he observes a shift in priorities initiated by the smartphone.
display
The Chinese manufacturer Byton responded most consistently two years ago, whose M-Byte is the current record holder for screen size - especially since, according to the company, there is not only a screen across the entire car, but also in the steering wheel and on the center tunnel a touch display is integrated.
Because the SUV is currently in a financial slump, Mercedes now wants to steal the show from the Chinese with the hyperscreen for the new EQS.
Car screens as wide as the entire interior
When the electric alternative to the S-Class goes on sale in the second half of the year, the entire dashboard will also consist of a continuous glass surface under which three screens merge, says design chief Gorden Wagener at the leading electronics trade fair CES, which this time is only virtual announced in Las Vegas in January.
Twelve actuators underneath are supposed to provide haptic feedback, but fingers tend to feel in vain for real switches.
BMW also announced the next generation of the iDrive at CES, which will make its debut in the iX electric model over the course of the year, 20 years after this operating concept was launched.
Judging by the first photos, she also relies on an XXL screen instead of many buttons - even if it only reaches just over the middle of the car.
Depth of display for car screens
display
For the PS industry, it's not just about the screen surface, which measures a record 2.5 square meters in the Mercedes, but also about the depth of display.
In order to score points, manufacturers and suppliers are even discovering the third dimension: In the new Mercedes S-Class, navigation graphics appear three-dimensional with a depth effect even without special glasses.
The supplier Continental literally catches the eye at CES with a 3-D display developed together with the US start-up Leia.
Because on the screen that is ready for series production by 2022, city scenes literally grow out of the navigation map, callers are visualized as almost tangible animations, and instead of simple warnings, stop signs suddenly appear in the room in the event of danger.
The passenger in the car can also benefit
With the sprawling screen landscapes, the front passenger finally benefits from the brave new infotainment world.
Because while backbenchers have always had their own screens, the front passenger has so far been largely excluded from the entertainment program.
display
Only so-called dual view screens, which showed different images depending on the viewing angle, helped a little, but never really caught on.
Entertainment on board: Thanks to a special film, the tablet holder above the glove compartment allows only the passenger to see the screen contents
Source: dpa-tmn
Now, on the other hand, the pillion passenger no longer has to stare to the side, rely on optical tricks or be content with tiny displays such as with Ferrari.
Instead, in the Porsche Taycan there is a screen of equal size for him.
And in the Byton M-Byte or on the hyperscreen of the Mercedes EQS it has its own electronics area.
However, you don't have to be in the electric luxury class if you want to look at the screen as a passenger.
The new Citroën C4, for example, has a more conventional cockpit, but surprises with a smart drawer above the glove compartment in which a tablet computer can be attached for entertainment in a crash-safe manner and invisible to the driver.
Brave new screen world in the car
The advancing digitization provides plenty of entertainment and, in the eyes of designers like Gorden Wagener, also for a new, contemporary aesthetic.
It was not for nothing that his team composed numerous new graphics and color worlds for the EQS and staged the screen accordingly.
But this trend is also attracting critics.
The focus on touchscreens promotes distraction, has ruled the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court and placed the screen of a Tesla on the same level as a cell phone.
And doing without too many switches makes it difficult to use.
The buyers of the new VW Golf can currently sing a song about this.
After the Lower Saxony replaced almost all buttons with sensor fields, sliders and screens and also saved the lighting for some control elements, the bestseller is criticized in many tests as being almost inoperable.
Digital landscapes: Screens such as the one shown here in the context of the Mercedes MBUX operating system are taking up more and more space in the cockpits of modern cars
Source: dpa-tmn
From an ergonomics perspective, safety must always come first, says Guido Meier-Arendt, who researches the human-machine interface (HMI) at the supplier Continental.
The important goal remains a distraction-free interaction.
display
“As long as the driver is responsible, his attention must remain on the road,” says the developer and demands that safety-critical functions such as the windshield wipers, hazard warning lights or lights must always be activated with physical, fixed operating elements.
"User habits are changing", the HMI expert points out with a view to the smartphone generation: "Therefore, the operation of modern vehicles must be flexible in order to be able to comply with these habits over the long term."
The third dimension within reach: Continental is developing 3-D screen concepts - planned for series production in 2022
Source: dpa-tmn
There is no longer one correct operating philosophy, but the key to attractive and therefore inspiring operation is the mixture of haptics on buttons and touchscreen, language, gestures or facial expressions.
And the art for the developers lies in making the transitions as smooth as possible and the menus as simple as possible.
Your car wants to get to know you even better
With particularly simple menus, chief programmer Sajjad Khan also wants to make the Mercedes hyperscreen and its countless new options manageable.
He relies primarily on artificial intelligence: with every kilometer, the system learns the preferences, habits and routines of up to seven drivers more precisely and automatically suggests certain operating steps depending on the occasion.
Before the driver even notices that the temperature outside has dropped below 15 degrees again, the system then offers, for example, seat heating, suggests a call to the parents, like every Friday at 6 p.m., or offers the football stadium as a navigation destination on Saturday lunchtimes: " It wasn't about building the biggest screen ever in a car, ”says Khan.
Rather, the Swabians wanted to program the cleverest system despite all the aesthetics.
This is why the hyperscreen gets to know the customer better and better: "This is how it delivers tailor-made, personalized infotainment and operating options before the passenger has to click anything."
Welcome to the future: BMW intends to bring the new generation of its iDrive operating system onto the market in the course of the year
Source: dpa-tmn