What the driver sees: 6 innovative in-car digital dash features

As cars become more advanced, so do the digital dash and interfaces. The following are six of the most innovative UI (user interface) features that drivers will see when they first sit in their new car.

Real time visualizations of vehicles and the road around you

Tesla’s cars with the Full Self Driving computer hardware (HW3) have very detailed, albeit simple representations of the road and features around you such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, stop signs, mailboxes, trash bins, turn lanes, and traffic signals, including their current status of red, green or blue.

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Editors note: We especially enjoy this feature at stop lights where it’s not easy to see the stop light without craning your neck.

Many makes have simple indicators on the UI (usually a car icon) to indicate cars in your blind-spot on their digital dash.

AI-enhanced interfaces that adapt to your needs and behaviors

The Mercedes Hyperdash implements AI to optimize the position and content on the fully digital dashboard. Over time, the system will keep commonly used features closer and larger on the interface, and fade or hide features seldom used.

Machine learning can train a computer model over time to be able to reliably predict users’ intentions or needs. We’re thinking this would be useful for adjusting volume levels, selecting your favorite radio or streaming channel, or preconditioning electric vehicles in cold weather for optimal performance.

Night Vision

Cadillac’s 2021 Escalade features a forward-facing night vision camera that is displayed on the fully digital dash screen, which gives drivers an almost superhuman ability to see in the dark.

Highlighting Road Hazards

When combined with the above feature of night vision, cars can overlay or highlight important details on the dashboard with bright visuals; pedestrians or large animals in your lane of travel would be ideal for this. Potholes would be another useful use case for this tech.

We could see this also being used with Augmented Reality to highlight roads, exits or points of interest on a map so it’s nearly impossible to miss.

Screens for second row passengers like rear seat entertainment

It would make sense that rear passengers also get access to touch screen car controls and infotainment options. Many rear-screen options are available across the industry, but the most exciting ones are tied into the front screen. GM’s latest system allows passengers to search the GPS map on the rear touchscreens and even request a navigation point to be sent to the driver’s display in the front (that the driver can accept or reject)!

Since passengers aren’t required to operate the vehicle, the entertainment options about. Some vehicles have HDMI or wireless casting inputs, but the industry hasn’t adopted a standard, such as Miracast (which does not work for iPhone users).

Stereo 3D graphic dashboard (without glasses)

A breaking technology is not just a plain digital dashboard featuring 2d graphics on a screen, but instead featuring stereoscopic graphics on various depth levels, simulating 3d depth (and an effect called “parallax scrolling”) for the driver. This feature can be useful for helping present important data spatially, which can be easier and quicker to understand at a moment’s glance (think about visualizing the speed limit off in the distance, while your set speed, odometer and RPM up close).

The Genesis GV80 is the first production vehicle to use such stereo 3d graphics in its vehicle. To achieve this effect without glasses, it uses driver facing sensors to detect where your eyes are, and adjust the 3d perspective based upon that positional data to complete the effect.

What do you think is the most exciting new car UI technology? Let us know in the comments and we’ll craft more content about it in the future. Digital dashboard concept created by Mei Xue.

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