Currys store fronts? Charting the path of the Human Machine Interface in next generation vehicles
While presenting to an OEM last week I was walking the collective team through our case studies when one of the execs asked “What’s an IVI?”
“In Vehicle Infotainment” I replied.
“Ah the Centre Stack!” said another. Later in the meeting the same screen was dubbed simply The Console. I’ve yet to find an OEM with internal consensus on the naming of these screens, let alone an industry wide one.
HMI / Digital Dash / Cluster / IVI / Centre Stack / Infotainment / Console; Regardless what we call the call screens in our car’s HMI, Human Machine Interface is surely the closest to a catch-all acronym. Originally used to describe only the digital dash it’s becoming a wider concept as the way we interact with our vehicles continues to expand.
The in vehicle HMI began life as tablet sized screens embedded haphazardly between the driver and passenger seats. Later the arms race for ever bigger screens in new vehicles has closely matched that of the mobile world, arguably hitting its zenith with the comically large monitor in the Tesla X. The number of screens have been multiplying at a similar pace; with one interior designer lamenting:
“Our next gen cars are going to look like Currys store fronts.”
He may be right, at least in the short term, but the longer view promises a myriad of new ways to interface with our machines. Voice control, image recognition and in-air gesture technology are maturing at such startling rates the number of tasks that will require us to actually eyeball a screen are set to diminish rapidly. This is good news for interior designers and great for driver safety.
Materials are evolving at a similar pace. Visiting CES this year I was treated to a visual feast of multi coloured HUDs, flexible displays and transparent glass screens. Suddenly the traditional black letterbox looks to become a thing of the past.
Will the traditional dashboard disappear entirely? I don’t believe so. If you’ve bought a car for performance then you will want to see that performance measured. Heads up displays will certainly be able to deliver this, and for the few that enjoy days on the track, a Go Pro / App combo can record your Gran Turismo experience with an HMI for sharing with fellow petrol heads. That said, the shift towards reduced dash real estate may well have already begun. While performance vehicles such as the NEXT EV are still pushing for that fighter cockpit experience, Tesla are moving the other direction, announcing a single screen on the Model 3.
Regardless of which design paths and technologies gain traction or fall by the wayside, the future of the HMI has never looked so exciting. OEMs have a plethora of routes to explore which in turn gives them ample room for differentiating their offerings from their competitors. I do however believe we’re hitting the high watermark for screens in vehicles. For the those pursuing an autonomous play, less dash is more — at least this is certainly the case for Tesla, with Elon Musk tweeting:
“The more autonomous a car is, the less dash info you need. How often do you look at the instrument panel when being driven in a taxi?”
As our meeting approached its conclusion a designer echoed Musk’s view by quoting Samsung’s Golden Krishna;
“The best interface is no interface”
In the automotive world this may prove spot on.
