Organizing Information in the Instrument Cluster of a Gasoline Vehicle with Advanced Driver Assistance Features.
These are wireframes of an instrument cluster. The layout is separated into multiple sections, with the most important information at the centre of the cluster. This includes the speed of the vehicle, driver assistance features and safety critical notifications and warnings. The information shown can be controlled by steering wheel controls. The configurable information is indicated by the up and down carets.
As found in user research, some people found some icons were difficult to understand, particularly icons for features that were not seen as often. Therefore, "rich" notifications were introduced. Rich notifications are words that accompany a graphic in the instrument cluster. This would potentially increase the intuitiveness of the alerts displayed on the instrument cluster.
This was the first wireframe for the instrument cluster, revealing the layout of elements on the display. This layout was chosen because it is similar to how many vehicles structure their instrument clusters. Adaptations were made to accommodate gasoline vehicles with driver assistance features as the main focus. This will ensure maximum compatibility between different vehicles, ensuring that the driver will be comfortable with understanding the different information located on the display. Mainly, this instrument cluster drew inspiration from the Tesla instrument clusters due to their focus on driver assistance as seen here, as well as the Cadillac CT6 as seen here.
Door Ajar notification, showing which doors are opened.
Regular driving layout. No vehicle detected by radar, lanes detected.
Low fuel warning.
Right turn signal activated.
Lane departure warning. Lane being crossed is highlighted and bolded, with a caution symbol beside it.
Emphasis on Auto-Stop as a fuel saving mode is accentuated by the use of green, highlighting the fuel economy readout and the tachometer . The tachometer is not reading 0 RPM to discourage linking of Auto-Stop to a stalled engine. As well, the text in the middle of the screen states the feature as well as the action taken as a result of the feature.
Imminent collision detected. Warning to the driver to apply the brakes.
Notification explaining that traction control of the vehicle is limiting the power output of the vehicle.
Setting the following distance for Adaptive Cruise Control. The three successive bars indicate the distance at which the vehicle will keep from the leading vehicle. This can be configured by the controls in the centre of the screen.
The target vehicle's speed is decreasing, adaptive cruise control indicates that the set speed is not fulfilled, in order to maintain the set following distance.
This scenario is seen when the set following distance and the adaptive cruise control set speed is satisfied.
