Entertainment On Wheels

In-Dash Panels Control Head Units, Multiple Displays, Cameras and Sensors

- Tom Murphy

Remember the old eight-track players in cars? They were quirky and idiosyncratic. But today's in vehicle infotainment systems are packed with features and aimed at keeping the driver's eyes on the road. Why is it we can't design a system to remove all our concerns?

(W - "...to heaven." e begin our story with hypothetical music playing)

"And she's buying the stairway..." silent pause... click-click... silent pause That was a sample of an epic rock theme played back on eight-track stereo system in a partially restored 1972 Chevy El Camino (Figure 1). Does anybody remember the old eighttrack players in cars? They were great when they came out, but they had that quirky, inherent flaw: Every time the track switches over to the next one, it would randomly disrupt a song in the middle, inadvertently taking the wind out of the sails of an ambitious crescendo. Consumers put up with this quirk until the cassette decks came out because it was an important innovation. It saved them from having to listen to commercials on the radio in between songs, and then have more control over the music they listened to.

But what seems silly, here and now in the year 2024, we - as a society - still can't figure out how to deliver an ideal vehicular entertainment system - one that doesn't cut out at inconvenient times like a clunky pause in the middle of a song's dramatic conclusion in Figure 2.

Entertainment systems in cars are still highly controversial. We love them when they work, but when they don't, they could be the most vilified embedded system ever created. Not only that, but drivers seem more distracted than ever, and the user interface with in-vehicle infotainment systems seems to get more perplexing with every new generation of added features.