Automotive parts supplier Visteon showed off a number of dashboard concepts at CES 2009, using materials developed with 3M. Touch-sensitive panels with haptic response is a major area of research for Visteon, doing away with traditional buttons and knobs.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Visteon demonstrated a mild 3D instrument cluster navigation display. This system uses special plastics to make the route guidance arrow appear to float above the road.
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Visteon opaque dashboard
This dashboard looks opaque when the power is off, but when you turn the car on, you can see an LCD screen and decorative backlighting.
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Visteon touch panel console
Visteon had a number of touch panels designed for the car on display. The buttons are marked by backlighting, and a haptic system lets you feel a click when you touch a button area. This system also uses a proximity sensor to keep the panel blank until you put your hand near it.
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Visteon touch panel console
Another touch panel on display uses selective proximity sensors. In this picture, only one set of buttons is visible.
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Visteon touch panel console
Here's the same touch panel with two sets of buttons visible. This system makes it so only a set of buttons in use, such as climate control, is visible.
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Visteon touch panel console and screen
Visteon's newest concept dashboard panel uses an iPod-like design, combining a big touch panel with a touch screen.
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Visteon console cover
Another in-car innovation Visteon showed off is this swiveling console cover. The company embedded an iPod and USB port in it the bottom side of the cover, showing how previously unused space can be made practical.
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Visteon driver monitoring
This image shows how a driver alert system works. A camera in the instrument cluster monitors the driver's face, tracking the eyes and whether the face is looking forward. Car makers can use this camera and processing to determine if the driver is getting distracted or sleepy, and sound a warning.
