Design of an Instrument Cluster for an Electric Car
This is a concept design for a digital instrument cluster of an electric car. The focus of the design is on different driving modes that filter the information according to the driving scenario.
Concept Explanation
The design of the instrument cluster changes depending on three modes: highway, city and stationary. The highway and city modes are engaged automatically by the system. The stationary mode is engaged when the car is in park or neutral.
Structure
The UI consists of 3 different bars and 3 ‘information panels’. The top bar (1) shows easy-to-interpret ‘long-term’ information such as time, weather and estimated time of arrival (ETA).
The two sidebars (2, 3) show the dashboard icons and notifications from the user’s phone respectively. The information in the bars largely stays the same in the different drive modes.
The main area is divided into three information panels (4, 5, 6). These display crucial information like the navigation system, speed, and directions. The information visualization and the type of data can change notably according to the driving mode, therefore, a clear design with three information panels was chosen to keep a sense of structure.
Final Concept
Highway Mode
When driving on a highway, the instrument cluster only shows the utter necessary information to the driver to minimize driver distraction.
The left panel shows the speed of the car relative to the speed limit. For a driver, on the highway, it does not matter how fast he is going in numbers, only the relative speed to the speed limit. When the green circle is complete, the driver is doing exactly the speed limit. The speed limit is shown in the center of the dial.
The middle and right panel show the route and directions. When driving on a highway, showing a full map is too much information. A driver only needs to know which lane he needs to drive on and where to go next. Therefore, the middle space only shows the position of the car on the road and the route the driver should follow (blue line). The right dial acts as a progress bar for each direction. It restarts for each new direction.
When the driver goes over the speed limit, the interface gives subtle hints to the driver to slow down. First, by changing the color of the dial to red, and when he keeps increasing in speed, by changing the outline of the entire cluster to red.
City Mode
When the user enters a city, the UI changes the display of information accordingly. Where in highway driving mode, the emphasis is on driver focus and driving at the right speed, in the city, this changes to an emphasis on navigating through complicated streets.
First of all, the map changes to a detailed top view of the city with the route projected on top of it. Second, since the focus moves away from the speed, the left panel becomes less important. Therefore, it shows the actual speed in numbers and the ring lights up in an ambient color, instead of in green. However, the same feedback system for speeding remains.
Stationary Mode
If the car is in park or neutral, the UI provides very different information to the driver compared to the other driving modes. The reason behind this is that the driver will be more interested in more detailed information. So for that, he will use the main infotainment system. The instrument cluster will then serve as second screen with quick, crucial information about the car’s status.
The left panel shows the charge level of the battery and the total distance driven. The center panel shows a top view of the car that reflects the status of the car (open doors, lights, mechanical issues). The right panel shows the current media settings.
The information in the top bar also changes slightly as it shows more detailed information. Next to the time, the data is also displayed, as well as the weather and the weather prediction. The settings for the automatic gearbox are displayed in the center.
