Personalised Steering Wheel Controls. A User Experience Project.

Photo by David Blume on Unsplash

Technology has become more and more personalised and accessible, especially in cars. With more and more controls switching over to touch-screen, gone are the days of plastic knobs and buttons.

I believe this transition is good and bad. It is suitable as this allows for deepened customisation and cleaner styling in the car, but bad due to the lack of responsiveness or intuition. For example, changing volume controls has historically been by turning a knob but switched out with touch controls. These touch controls may be aesthetic to look at but have an additional layer of steps to access or cause the driver to take their eyes off the road to locate.

One area, in my opinion, that shouldn’t have touch controls is the steering wheel. Many buttons and scroll wheels can be added to the steering wheel to ease accessibility, but swapping physical buttons with touchpads is a controversial move.

Take, for example, the 2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale. Below is a picture of the steering wheel (credit: TopSpeed).

As we can see, there is not a button in sight—only touchpads with haptic feedback. Only the indicators, drive-mode switch, headlight, and wiper settings are physical. The idea of putting touch screens on the steering is excellent, but it got me thinking, is there a way to combine the personalisation of touch screens/ displays with the feedback and click of a button?

The Idea:

The idea is to combine the best of both worlds. Buttons with touch screens underneath that can be personalised to the drivers choice. This personalisation can be done either via the central infotainment screen or using a supporting car app, both of which are common in today’s world of cars.

Diagram of sample wheel

Furthermore, switches traditionally used to increase/ decrease the volume or move to the next/ previous music track can be rebound to control the fan speed, AC temperature or cycle through drive modes.

Execution and Diagrams:

How each component of the steering wheel is replaceable:

Buttons:

• Buttons are replaced with glass buttons with a Mini-LED display underneath. Since glass can get slippery due to sweat, a few ‘grip’ bumps can be placed on the side. In addition, a thin transparent plastic covering for lesser premium cars, similar to those on gaming mice, can protect the screen.
• For settings such as heated seats, smaller dashes are positioned at the edge of the screen, and the driver can cycle through them as they click the button.

Different options for the transparent buttons

Scroll Wheels/ Shifter Buttons:

• The area above and below the button is replaced with the Mini LED screens.
• These can be used to scroll and increase or decrease settings like volume, temperature, music track, drive mode (electric-> hybrid-> petrol) etc.
• The area around the shifter button is all glass, with the screens seamlessly integrated. The light line between the shifter buttons is a crease to indicate two different functionalities.

Note:

• Some features, like the horn or indicators, will compulsorily be on the steering wheel on physical buttons that cannot be rebound, if required.
• The car will be factory delivered with standard buttons and switch functionality.
• All this functionality will be available off the steering wheel, i.e. no function will be removed entirely if taken off the steering wheel. These shortcuts are meant for easier access for the driver. For example, changing climate control will still be present in the central dashboard, even if removed/ added to the steering wheel.

Implementation Idea:

• The glass itself is a dark grey panel, which is soft to click and has a tactile response.
• Underneath the glass panel is a round-edged LED display that can be modified to the drivers choice.
• Another idea was to keep one larger screen/ display at the bottom, with the separation coming from the placement of the glass panels, and separate functionality is displayed at its respective area.

Changing steering wheel button procedure:

I plan to allow the driver/ user to change their preferences from the companion car app or the central infotainment display. All customisations made are specific to the driver profile and will not affect other drivers that use the car.

For Button:

Mockup of Infotainment UI

• The button display will glow to show exactly what is being edited.
• Options are shown in real-time as a preview on the steering wheel on selection.

For Scroll Button:

Mockup of Infotainment UI

• The display above and below the selected scroll wheel will glow to show exactly what is being edited.
• Options are shown in real-time as a preview on the steering wheel on selection.

Note:

Only some options will be available for buttons or scroll-wheels. For example, a user cannot place volume controls on a button or toggle Hazard-lights on a scroll-wheel.

Advantages:

• Ability to replace lesser used buttons with buttons the driver often uses in a more convenient location.
• Removes necessity to look away from the road for commonly used controls like climate controls, radio buttons etc.
• It can be saved to the respective driver profile (in compatible cars).
• It makes the steering look more aesthetically pleasing and better lit due to LED displays.

Conclusion:

Personalisation and customisability have been the norm for several years in the tech world. However, given our latest advancements in technology, creating these swappable buttons on the steering wheel can be the next step in personalisation in the car industry.

Please leave any thoughts and questions you may have in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!