Glass cockpits

[LeeW]

Glass cockpits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cockpit) have been used on aircraft for years but the aptrea is the first time I have seen one used in a car. Are there any other cars around using glass cockpits?

[LQUAN]

Simi-glass cockpits is used on the new Honda Civic Hybrid. Glass cockpit make sense if people preferred all digital readouts on the instrument panel. Most people prefer analog display over digital display because they are not use to the frequent changes of the information on digital readouts. For example, slow needle indicators moving is less distracting than large digital readouts changing info. I, however, prefer digital readouts. You can make better use of the small instrumental space (between the steering wheel) by displaying more useful information. Touchscreen can handle more controls than analog buttons. We want to see only the buttons of interest at any instant, not cluttering up the whole panel with all buttons. For example, when you are selecting radio station, do you want the GPS related buttons in the way? Most luxury car are moving toward glass cockpit design. How cool is that...

[nluneau]

My favorite military application is the Heads Up Display or HUD that has been used by the US military since the 60's, commercial aviation since the 70's and the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme in 1988. Also in the CF-18's that we used when I was in the Canadian Air Force.

A really cool technology that I would love to see more off for many reasons including safety and of course "the cool factor" ;)

Maybe we can hack-one up, like http://www.hackaday.com/2007/12/17/nightvision-car-heads-up-display/ ;)

Noel

[connorb3]

This insanely awesome HUD should be put in the Aptera, because it is so tiny and light. It would fit the Aptera's revolutionary style perfectly.
http://www.microvision.com/vehicle_displays/head_up_displays.html

[palmer_md]

This insanely awesome HUD should be put in the Aptera, because it is so tiny and light. It would fit the Aptera's revolutionary style perfectly.
http://www.microvision.com/vehicle_displays/head_up_displays.html

I agree....I really like the HUD. Would be a nice adder for those who wish to pay for it as an option.

[LQUAN]

HUD had been used by Nissan on their 1989 240SX model and was later dropped. It only displayed mph in green at the lower left corner of the windshield. My college room-mate used to have this car. We used to carpool to campus. It can be hard to see sometimes on hot summer days. It is even more difficult to see if you're seating on the passenger side. The video shown by Microvision was done inside a tunnel. I wonder what the yellow color would look like in hot summer days. Go figure... :confused:

On fighter aircrafts, HUD is on a dedicated semi-transparent pannel - not on the canopy glass. HUD does not work well on curvy and low angle glass - the projected info will look distorted.