The video game experience has arrived in the automobile. It’s called the virtual cockpit and, starting with Audi, it will become a more common feature in cars in the not too
distant future. Gone are the traditional mechanical dials — the speedometer, the tachometer, the various gauges and pointers — and in their place is a 12.3-inch LCD screen that houses an
animated instrument cluster. The high-resolution screen, which lights up behind the steering wheel, directly in the driver’s line of sight, can be programmed to show several functions —
for navigation, a cellphone, radio and media, Google Earth 3-D graphics, and traffic data. That is in addition to the usual functions of showing speed, engine revolutions, outside temperature and the
gas level.
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