In the Summer of 2007, I was hired by GM along with my team members to research the area of computer reconfigurable displays for General Motors cars. Specifically, we focused on the Cadillac CTS and the Chevrolet Impala. We carried out this work in the comfort of a windowless room in the Human Computer Interaction Institute on Carnegie Mellon’s campus.

In the first phase of the project, we went to car dealers to get an idea of what an Instrument Panel (IP) means across as many brands as possible. After we had gathered this information, we spent over a week discussing the past present & future of the CTS and the Impala, and how our digital IPs would help further that future.

Basic Cadillac Display

All the IP's we spied on.

In the next phase, all of the designed IP interfaces based on our conversations and conclusions about the future. The wonderful thing about reconfigurable displays is that there is no limit to what can be shown on the screen. However, we had to balance this new freedom with aspects that are familliar to drivers.

Cadillac display in Sport Mode

Sport mode created some of our more interesting discussions. The driver makes a conscious decision to change their driving style when engaging sport mode. With a reconfigurable display, the car can reflect this change and provide better feedback for a sporty driving style.

Cadillac display in Cruise mode

Chevy concept display

In the final phase, we were given an eye tracking system and built a mock dashboard in order to do visual tests on our designs. However, this phase was a trial run, since a real study was to take place during the fall. However, we did test ourselves and a few subjects on the eye tracker.

Eye tracker