Touch Tracer is the first display system in the world to allow steering wheel controls to read out on the instrument panel. (Overseas model shown)
THE ALL-NEW TOYOTA PRIUS features a clever new piece of technology Toyota has named Touch Tracer, allowing the driver to view important vehicle information on a heads-up display, requiring the minimum of eye movement.
The idea is simple: touch lightly on any of the steering-mounted controls and a diagram of the function will appear overlaid on the digital display in the instrument cluster. Whichever button you’ve got your finger on, will glow orange on the display.
Touch Tracer can be used to adjust audio controls and cabin temperature, as well as checking energy consumption.
Steering-mounted controls were of course devised to help people take control of the features, without needing to remove their hands from the wheel. But of course, fumbling your way around the controls without taking your eyes off the road can be troublesome.
Other information displayed on the heads-up display includes vehicle speed and a monitor that shows how economically the car is being driven.
A new Head-Up Display in Prius projects key information such as vehicle speed onto the base of the windscreen.
Prius models equipped with satellite navigation will benefit from the head-up display as well, with turn-by-turn and distance-to-exit information display on the screen.
Of course, for those who find the feature more of a hindrance than a benefit, the display can be adjusted for height and brightness, or simply switched off all together.
The 2010 Toyota Prius is due for its Australian launch next month.
Loading ...
Comments
Click here to jump to Add Comment box
How do you get a picture next to your name?
Get a Gravatar. Click here to find out more.
That is such a simple and elegant idea.
Both my and my girlfriend’s cars have wheel mounted controls but are obviously laid out differently. Sometimes it can take a bit of getting used to.
After a while you should know the controls by touch and not need to look at the wheel, but until then it’d be nice not to have to look down and close.
A Toyota’s so called all new Head-Up Display was in my friend 1990 Nissan Silvia so yes another new one from Toyota..well done
BMW also had the HUD in their E60 M5 and M6, and Corvettes have had them for a while, at least since the C5. I remember the Nissan Bluebirds from the early 90s had them too.
It does seem a bit weird though how the main instruments are placed in the middle of the car, apparently because that doesn’t require you to move your eyes as much from where you are looking (out onto the road), so why is the HUD displaced off to the right (directly in front of the steering wheel)? Surely the HUD should have been placed closer to the middle of the windscreen as well?