The reality is that the additional wiring, while it is mostly for the excess accessories, is much more economical and more reliable than the system using a multiplexed control line.
Do you remember that prediction, the 42 volt system and a single data bus, and the while car only needing three wires? The very best part of that idea is that it did not happen! For starters, we normally don't get 42 volts from three 12 volt batteries in series. So calling it 42 volts immediately was a poor call from the very start. And the main reason for the three batteries was to support the pre-heated catalyst idea, which came from somebody who was totally detached from reality. You can read about it in the archieves of Design News from a few years back. The stated excuse was to support all of the many new electrical things in a car, but clearly that reason was not valid.
I did come across a very interesting writeup about some researcher inventing a far more compact high-value capacitor made from polystyrene. That discovery could wind up being a game changer in a number of areas. Have you come across this yet.
If you were able to explore the process at the auto companies you would find one group trying to remove distractions and make the vehicle safer, and you would find another group striving with all their might to add features and gimmicks in order to obtain product differentiation. Unfortunately that group often prevails, since they are linked to marketing and upper management, while engineers are linked to production and reliability. Since none, or very few, at a lower level, of the decission makers in an auto company are engineers, it is simple to figure out who prevails most of the time. Of course, safety does not sell, except Volvos, and marketing and money are close companions, and even useless features sell. So you can easily guess the winners.
I avoided naming names to protect the guilty. They know who they are.
I see your point, William K. Even though the number of physical buttons has been dramatically reduced on this display, the number of icons is still a distraction. As hard as automakers are trying to reduce distraction -- and I believe they are trying hard -- they could reduce distraction far more by eliminating center console screens altogether.
I can see this one being very distracting to a driver. How about: LOSE THE ICONS, and use large text, probably with a different tree path for the selections. But still it is way to busy for a driver. Stuck in a traffic jam it may be OK, but at 70MPH it will be a source of dangerous distraction. I can see that it has lots of features, but they will distract the driver.
This is a clean display and I like the haptic feedback, especially on the temperature, but i wonder how easy the screen would be to use while driving. Although i am sure it would become easier to use over time, it seems as if it could be distracting in the begining.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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