With a reconfigurable display panel, the driver can choose how and where to display information about the car, much the same way one tailors the windows and shortcuts on a personal computer’s screen.  For one driver, the speedometer might be large and central; for another, the key information could be which track is playing on the CD player, or the distance to the nearest rest stop.

“As cars are featuring more information, more telematics, and hence more potential for driver distraction, we see this sort of flexible instrument panel as the answer to most of these concerns,” said Ed Welburn, executive director of GM’s Corporate Brand Character Center.  “The technology has advanced to the point that the driver should be able literally to tune out the information he or she doesn’t need, and to put the things he or she cares most about front and centre on the display.”

LCD displays use essentially the same technology found in the screens of laptop computers, and offer a nearly endless variety of colours, brightness and resolution. Unlike digital displays based on light-emitting diodes, or LED, these LCD displays can be made to look like conventional analogue gauges, if that’s what the driver prefers. In fact, that’s precisely the approach chosen by the designers of this year’s Cadillac concept.

“These displays also fit with the market trend toward customizable interiors,” Welburn said. “Customers might pick the colors and background of their instrument panel and then change them if they get bored, just as they do with their computer’s desktop.” Some suppliers are even experimenting with the ability to show small screens of video on the reconfigurable instrument panel so that drivers could watch their rear-view “mirrors” via video camera, or keep an eye on the kids in the back seat without having to turn their heads. 


While at least one carmaker has begun offering the option of a web browser or television signal on the driver’s display, GM’s guiding principles on driver distraction (see table) discourage such potentially dangerous diversions. Instead, an LCD display’s ability to show sound system or heating and cooling information on the instrument cluster rather than on the centre console avoids the distracting problem of a driver craning to see the controls.

GM’s 2000 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban already feature an LCD panel called a Driver Message Center to cut down on the number of lights and indicators and the amount of instrument panel area that has been devoted to them. This small, adaptable display replaces numerous trouble lights, gauges and reminders with 19 text messages on vital vehicle functions such as oil level and pressure, coolant temperature, door ajar and low fuel. Being text-based, these messages should also be easier to interpret than a cryptic symbol the driver has never seen before.

How These Technologies Feature in the 2001 Concepts

Pontiac REV

In keeping with the youth market’s interest in tailoring vehicle interiors to express their individuality, the young and muscular Pontiac REV features a three-screen LCD display for its instrument panel. A simple toggling action allows the driver to select which data is on the center screen, and which data is on the side panels. Each of the displays is round to look more like traditional instrument panel gauges, but they can display vastly more information.

Oldsmobile O4

The Oldsmobile O4’s instrument panel takes its cues from a Palm Pilot™ and other similarly comfortable hand-held devices. It’s called the “Info Ring” and it can replace all of the traditional knobs and gauges of an instrument panel, center console and overhead console, greatly simplifying the car’s visual environment. Ten buttons around the top edge of the half-moon display allow the driver to toggle smoothly from one function to the next and exert control. “We wanted everything clustered around the steering wheel to keep the driver focused on the most important task: operating the vehicle on the road,” said Jeff Perkins, Oldsmobile’s brand character chief designer.  

GMC TerraCross

A rectangular LCD touchscreen flips up behind the steering wheel, putting the driver in command of a powerful, sophisticated vehicle.  With just a touch of a fingertip, it toggles easily between analog-style gauges, a graphic equalizer for the sound system, and a huge numerical and graphic speedometer.  Another reconfigurable display on the vehicle’s center console commands the heating and air conditioning, stereo and navigation controls, saving space and clutter and providing a simplified, intuitive set of controls for the driver.  Together, these displays echo the urbane glass and indirect lighting of the TerraCross’ interior.

Cadillac Vizón

The instrument panel of this year’s Cadillac concept retains some of the striking stainless steel accents and Bulgari jewelry design of earlier concepts, but with an important difference: When the cover on the instrument panel slides back at ignition, white-faced analog gauges have been replaced by a series of round video displays in graduated sizes. The driver can decide what data is displayed on each of these virtual gauges.

GM’s Management Principles on Driver Workload

GM’s communication and infotainment systems will be designed to:

• Keep the driver’s eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
• Minimize the number of steps required to perform a task.
• Create a common interface in how consumers interact with the system.
• Utilize a lock-out protocol to prevent the use of systems that create unnecessary and excessive attention demands on the driver.