German Design Award 2023: Gold for Continental’s Revolutionary Cockpit Concept

Babenhausen (Germany), February 7, 2023. Continental wins gold at the German Design Award 2023. The technology company impressed the jury of the German Design Council with its elegantly restrained vision for vehicle interiors, the Luxury Minimalism Concept, and has received the highest award in the category “Excellent Product Design – Automotive Parts and Accessories.” In addition, several Continental display solutions were recognized as “Winners” in the same category, including the high-resolution Natural 3D Display and the Curved Ultrawide Display. “To be recognized multiple times with one of the most prestigious design awards in the world is a great reward for our entire team. We are particularly proud of the Gold award because it underlines our outstanding design performance as well as our ability to think in a revolutionary way and thus set impulses for the entire industry,” says Philipp von Hirschheydt, Head of the User Experience Business Area at Continental.

Simplicity meets high value in Continental’s minimalist design concept for vehicle interiors. Instead of a multitude of screens dominating the cockpit, the reduced design of the Luxury Minimalism Concept creates a feel-good atmosphere on four wheels and simplifies interaction to the essentials. Inspired by the trend towards luxurious vehicle interiors, the centerpiece of the concept is a display in avant-garde diamond form. The display acts as a central driver information system and at the same time as a valuable home for a virtual assistant also envisaged in the concept, which serves as artificial intelligence to support the driver. The combination with the integrated display control panel based on Continental’s In2visible Display technology enables fully comprehensive and intuitive operation despite the reduced design. The trick: As if by magic, the control panel only appears when needed.

One aspect that the jury of the German Design Award particularly appreciated: “The dashboard instruments and displays in the automobile of the future will be invisible until you need them. This ensures aesthetic calm in the cockpit and promotes driver concentration. In keeping with this vision, Continental is setting a new standard with its new Luxury Minimalism cockpit concept”, according to the jury’s statement.

Continental is expanding its portfolio of 3D Display solutions with the 5K Natural 3D Display recognized with the “Winner” award. The Lightfield technology enables a 3D experience without additional special glasses or head tracking camera. In combination with the new 5K display panel, a particularly natural viewing experience is created as the display content can be viewed from even more angles. This enables, for example, complex lighting effects that change perspective correctly when the head moves. In addition, the high-resolution 5K technology creates an even larger eyebox and thus more room for head movements to see the 3D image, which at the same time looks even more immersive and natural. The Curved Ultrawide Display was also a “Winner” in the “Excellent Product Design – Automotive Parts and Accessories” category. The curved pillar-to-pillar display extends across the entire width of the cockpit, making it the driver, central and front passenger screens in one. The display is illuminated by a matrix backlight with 3,000 LEDs. This results in excellent picture quality with high contrast, while individual areas of the screen that are not currently needed can be dimmed. This saves power and improves readability. Thanks to its width of 1.29 meters, the Curved Ultrawide Display offers designers great freedom in designing futuristic interiors. Interaction between the user and the display is also based on Continental’s integrated In2visible Display technology, which prevents superfluous information from distracting the driver, as the control panel only appears when required.Continental is expanding its portfolio of 3D Display solutions with the 5K Natural 3D Display recognized with the “Winner” award. The Lightfield technology enables a 3D experience without additional special glasses or head tracking camera. In combination with the new 5K display panel, a particularly natural viewing experience is created as the display content can be viewed from even more angles. This enables, for example, complex lighting effects that change perspective correctly when the head moves. In addition, the high-resolution 5K technology creates an even larger eyebox and thus more room for head movements to see the 3D image, which at the same time looks even more immersive and natural. The Curved Ultrawide Display was also a “Winner” in the “Excellent Product Design – Automotive Parts and Accessories” category. The curved pillar-to-pillar display extends across the entire width of the cockpit, making it the driver, central and front passenger screens in one. The display is illuminated by a matrix backlight with 3,000 LEDs. This results in excellent picture quality with high contrast, while individual areas of the screen that are not currently needed can be dimmed. This saves power and improves readability. Thanks to its width of 1.29 meters, the Curved Ultrawide Display offers designers great freedom in designing futuristic interiors. Interaction between the user and the display is also based on Continental’s integrated In2visible Display technology, which prevents superfluous information from distracting the driver, as the control panel only appears when required.