We Design Volvo

Touchscreens

We have tried to remove all the buttons and levers and integrate those into the touchscreen and go as far as possible. Our inspiration source was smartphones and particularly iPhone. The design is intuitive yet has a technological look, but isn’t trying to be smarter than the user.

We have two touchscreens: one for the driver in the front, and another in the rear for the passengers. Everything is available on both screens: entertainment, comfort, safety, playlists you name it.

Both touchscreens have apps and in theory you can have as many apps as you wish. We have already made 6-7 Volvo apps. You can also send information between the two touchscreens which is communicated by a light strip that runs in the centre from the front to back. There are plans to update the touchscreen software.

At the steering wheel we have a simple construction of translucent paddles that are touch-sensitive. They activate animated menus in the instrument cluster - the focus is on driving.

We have built-in camera that registers eye-movements. When the driver looks at the front touchscreen it lights up and shows information. As the driver then moves his/her hand closer to the screen, it reacts by showing relevant controls. 

In the future there will definitely be a development towards integration of functionality into touchscreens, particularly those functions less frequently used. Certain popular functions, such as volume, will have a physical button but mostly as decoration.

/Conny