Bigger, bolder and more intuitive dashboards could be on the way very soon after German tech giant Bosch revealed its plans to develop a 3D display – and it could be a game-changer for the motorcycle industry in particular.
There has been an increasing drive by some of the bigger manufacturers to improve the clarity and ease of use when it comes to dashboards, not least because – unlike cars – hands cannot (or should not) be far from the handlebars for a long period of time.
Triumph is particularly proud of its crisper, weather-proof TFT dashboard, which rightly raises the standard for both connectivity and clarity, but Bosch could be about to take things one step further with displays that literally pop to give you crucial information, such as upcoming ice or a hazard
Indeed, with dashboards being less in the line of sight for riders compared with drivers, a technology that allows certain emergency or hazard information to be moved safely into your vision certainly holds appeal.
"Displays are increasingly becoming interactive systems that can better anticipate drivers’ individual needs," says Dr. Steffen Berns, president of Bosch Car Multimedia. "There is huge business potential for Bosch here."
According to Bosch’s press release, ‘the eyes are responsible for 90 percent of all human sensory perception. Bosch believes the future is all about interaction between users and displays”
Indeed, as well as grabbing your full attention when it needs to, 3D displays offer more depth and help to differentiate different readings, which is useful when you consider motorcycle dashes often have to display a lot of information on a relatively small cluster.
This is of course in a development stage, so the theory versus the reality might vary, but there is definitely strong idea here if it can be executed well. Indeed, Bosch – who pioneered the first digital car dashboard displays back in the mid-90s - are masters in adapting tech to a wider audience.
While the innovation seems to have been developed with cars in mind – meaning it’ll probably appear in BMW 3-Series before it finds its way onto a BMW S1000RR - many have pointed out it is motorcycles that arguably have a more immediate need for it.
From 3D dashes to Motorcycles are getting cleverer
This latest tech step forward comes as KTM and Ducati race one another to get to market with the first radar cruise control system, which will debut on either the KTM 1290 or the Ducati Multistrada.
Ducati’s version, known as ARAS (Advanced Rider Assistance Systems) has been in development since 2016 but is now expected to be amongst a big update for the revised Multistrada, which EPA papers revealed to be called the 2020 Ducati Multistrada 1260GT, in October. KTM could launch its version around the same time.
Radar cruise control uses a variety of sensors front and rear to understand its environment and feedback to the rider accordingly, such as obstacles or fast-approaching cars. Put simply, it aims to predict an accident before it happens, hopefully giving the rider a fair chance to avoid it.
It’s the latest innovation that brings motorcycles up to standard when it comes to technology, an important step since riders share the roads with an increasing number of cars that adopt driverless features that many researchers believe don’t take into account motorcyclists enough.
