As automotive companies embrace the technological revolution they, in turn, phase out the more traditional controls in favour of touchscreen interfaces. This, however, presents a problem: the screens are merely retooled to replicate the older formats, and thus means the driver must still take his eyes or concentration from the road in order to get the desired result.
In light of this, Matthaeus Krenn has proposed an intuitive, tactile UI that relies rather on muscle memory which allows the driver to remain cognizant of the road and surroundings.
Make sure to check out the video below!
One simple gesture: Dragging up or down is how adjustments are made to the selected setting. Muscle memory instead of high accuracy: By touching the screen with different numbers of fingers, different controls are invoked.
The interface reacts not only to the number of fingers, but also to their distance from each other. E.g. two fingers can be placed close together or further apart to trigger two different modes. The interface will react accordingly and select the appropriate control. This way, anything from the temperature in the car to the next song on a playlist can be selected by a simple swipe with one hand.
The interface adjusts with the sensitivity of each control. Some settings react to very small movements (e.g. volume). Others require bigger movements for more accuraty (e.g. music source).In total, this interface gives distraction free access to eight controls that can be customized based on the driver’s preferences.