Continental’s hybrid instrument cluster bags German design award

The German Design Council has awarded Continental's Hybrid Instrument Cluster with the ‘Best of Best’ award in the Automotive Brand Contest 2015. The award will be presented during the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt on September 15, 2015.

"With the optical three-dimensional structure and the associated virtual combination of digital and analog worlds, Continental designers are not only setting innovative aesthetic standards, but they are also offering their cockpit design colleagues completely new design possibilities," says jury member Prof. Andrea Lipp.

"In our Hybrid Instrument Cluster, we combine a three-dimensional tinted glass-look surface with traditional analog indicators," reveals designer Jochen Möller, who is responsible for the product design. Along with the analog instrument dials, the high-quality seven-inch AMOLED display integrates seamlessly and with no visible edges into the 'black panel' surface of the instrument cluster, adds Möller.

Pixels from OLED displays emit lights themselves unlike LCD/TFT displays. Black-activated pixels therefore do not emit any light and are thus actually black ('active black panel'). This results in a higher contrast and invisible transitions between the display and the adjoining surface. "The display content appears to be floating in the black space." However, the indicators have deliberately been kept classically analog, so that the quality and three-dimensionality retain their character.

The hybrid principle thus runs through the entire design. Circumferential LED optical fibres, which can emit light in a wide variety of colours, ensure striking ambient lighting. However, the light strip can simultaneously supply the driver with important additional information. Möller says: "If another vehicle overtakes, the driver is notified by means of partial illumination or color changes in the LED strip without having to look to the side."

The integrated display can show any kind of information – from infotainment and navigation to warnings. The useful display surface in this design is not trimmed with tubes. The indicators, dials, and display are so precisely coordinated that they allow the available display surface to be adapted to the situation and used optimally. For example, the analog indicators interact with the display with the printed tube dials switching seamlessly to digital as required.