Big, Bigger, Onboard Displays

Display screens play a key role in the onboard user experience in cars. The desired features of their design and operation vary from country to country – except for one characteristic.  

Navigation, music streaming, temperature regulation and much more: dashboard control features in cars have developed into digital information and entertainment stations. When it comes to designing such displays, drivers everywhere express a clear preference for a large-surface format over a small interface. Respondents in all five countries surveyed in Continental’s 2024 Mobility Study share this opinion. The study also shows that large does not automatically mean colorful. Simple, uncomplicated user interfaces are preferred in every country, mostly strongly in Japan (80 percent). One exception is the USA, where a majority of motorists (58 percent) express a preference for colorfully striking display content.  

Opinions on other interaction concepts vary more widely. Whereas over two-thirds of motorists (69 percent) in China would welcome a large number of technical functions displayed, survey respondents in Germany, France and especially in Japan favor a more limited range. Voice interaction enjoys significantly greater acceptance in the two Asian countries (67 percent in Japan and 59 percent in China) than in Germany and the United States, where the majority of survey respondents wish to control the display manually.  

Continental has developed a number of innovative display solutions. The Curved Ultrawide Display stretches across the entire width of the cockpit, from one A-pillar to the other. Interaction takes place with the aid of an integrated display control panel (In2visible) that appears as if by magic only when it is needed, and otherwise remains hidden underneath the decorative cockpit surface. This solution prevents superfluous information from distracting drivers.  

Another highlight, developed in cooperation with Swarovski Mobility, is the prize-winning, artistically designed Crystal Center Display, which fully embeds the display screen in a crystal housing and opens up whole new possibilities for luxurious interior trims in premium vehicles thanks to its frameless and semi-transparent appearance.  

However, for puristic cockpit designs as well, Continental offers fitting design concepts such as a display for facial identification: the Face Authentication Display. The sensors for user authentication as well as driver distraction and drowsiness detection disappear invisibly behind the driver display, thereby contributing to the minimalistic aesthetic of the cockpit.