WO2008110858A1

WO2008110858A1 - Motor vehicle provided with a satellite navigation system

Info

Publication number: WO2008110858A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/002424
Authority: WO
Inventors: Adriana Di Pede
Original assignee: Ferrari S.P.A.
Priority date: 2007-03-14
Filing date: 2007-08-23
Publication date: 2008-09-18
Also published as: ITBO20070175A1

Abstract

A motor vehicle (1) displaying: an interior compartment (2) to accommodate the driver; a dashboard (4) arranged in a front portion of the interior compartment (2); an instrument panel (5) obtained in the dashboard (4) in front of the driver; a steering-wheel (6), which may be turned in order to control a steering angle of the motor vehicle (1), is arranged in front of the driver in front of the instrument panel (5) and displays at least an upper opening (7) to allow the driver to see the instrument panel (5); and a satellite navigation system (8) provided with at least one screen (9), which is adapted to display the directions for the route to be followed and is inserted into the instrument panel (5) so as to be arranged in front of the driver and be visible for the driver through the upper opening (7) of the steering-wheel (6).

Description

MOTOR VEHICLE PROVIDED WITH A SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE ART The present invention relates to a motor vehicle provided with a satellite navigation system.

The present invention may advantageously be applied to a car, to which . the following description will explicitly refer without however loosing in generality. PRIOR ART

With the progress of electronic systems, in the last few years, the amount of information provided to the driver of a car has constantly increased; accordingly, the need is increasingly felt to organize and display different information so that the driver may rapidly have access to all of the information he/she desires without being distracted too much from driving.

For instance, the integration of a satellite navigation system in the dashboard of the car itself is more and more frequent in modern cars for the purpose of showing the driver the route to be followed. A satellite navigation system comprises a screen on which the route to be followed is pictographically displayed; in cars currently on the market, the screen of the satellite navigation system is always arranged in a central position of the dashboard between a driver seat and a front passenger seat. The problem of displaying information without distracting the driver too much from driving is especially felt for GPS navigation systems showing the route to be followed by exploiting the data provided by a satellite positioning device; indeed, the driver tends to continuously look at the screen of the GPS navigation system to view the route to be followed, thus inevitably reducing his/her concentration on the traffic situation with an obvious risk of accidents occurring. To solve the above described problem it has been suggested to provide GPS navigation systems with voice capabilities in order to attempt to vocally communicate the route to be followed to the driver; however, the effectiveness of such voice communications is limited and the driver tends in any case to look at the screen of the GPS navigation system.

To solve the above described problem, it has further been suggested to use a HUD (Head Up Display) system that projects an electronic image containing the information generated by the GPS navigation system regarding the route to be followed onto the windshield of the car; in this manner, the driver may read the information projected without needing to look away from the windshield, that is away from the road. However, the installation of a HUD system in a car is very expensive and therefore the use of a HUD system is restricted only to a limited number of luxury cars. Indeed, a great problem arising from the installation of a HUD system in a car is connected to imperfections of the windshield, as such imperfections are imperceptible when looking at the road through the windshield, although they may introduce unacceptable distortions in the projected images. Accordingly, the windshield (which displays a wide extension and an especially complex curved shape) must be manufactured with very rigorous manufacturing specifications, thus implying a considerable increase in costs and discarded parts. Furthermore, a HUD system has a very large size that makes the installation thereof impossible in a sports car having rather limited inner space. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the present invention to provide a motor vehicle provided with a satellite navigation system, such motor vehicle being easy and cost-effective to be manufactured, being free from the above described drawbacks, and, specifically, allowing to display the information on the route to be followed without distracting the driver from driving.

According to the present invention, there is provided a motor vehicle equipped with a navigation system according to the accompanying claims . BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show some non-limitative embodiments thereof, in which: • Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic and perspective view of a dashboard of a car provided with a satellite navigation system and manufactured in accordance with the present invention; • Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic view on an enlarged scale of an instrument panel of the dashboard in figure 1; and

• Figure 3 shows a front view of a variant of the dashboard in Figure 2. PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In Figure 1, numeral 1 indicates a car provided with an interior compartment 2 which accommodates at least a driver and a front passenger seated on corresponding seats (not shown) . The interior compartment 2 is frontally delimited by a transparent windshield 3 and a dashboard 4 (which is therefore arranged in a front portion of the interior compartment 2) .

In front of the driver, the dashboard 4 supports an instrument panel 5 and a steering-wheel 6, which may be turned to control a steering angle of the car 1, is arranged in front of the driver in front of the instrument panel 5 and displays at least an upper opening 7 to allow the driver to see the instrument panel 5 itself.

The car 1 comprises a satellite navigation system 8, which is provided with a LCD screen 9, which is adapted to display the directions for the route to be followed and is inserted in the instrument panel 5 so as to be arranged in front of the driver and be visible to the driver through the upper opening 7 of the steering wheel 6. According to the embodiment shown in figure 1 , a further LCD screen 10 is provided displaying a size which may be integrated in a single DIN or dual DIN compartment and is arranged in a central portion of the dashboard 4 between the driver seat and the front passenger seat. Normally, the screen 10 has the function of displaying information related to various devices of the car 1 (car stereo, reproduction of audio or video CD/DVDs, telephone, television, on-board computer...). Furthermore, in some cases (for instance, upon user request) the screen 10 could also be used as a duplication of the screen 9; in other terms, the screen 10 may also be used to duplicate the display of the information provided by the screen 9 so that also the rear passenger may view such information. The satellite navigation system 8 is provided with an input device 11, which is used by the driver or by the front passenger to drive the satellite navigation system 8, that is to send the desired commands to the satellite navigation system 8 itself. The input device 11 for the satellite navigation system 8 is generally integrated in the single DIN or dual DIN unit that houses the screen 10 and is arranged in a central portion of the dashboard 4; alternatively, the input device 11 may be housed in the steering wheel 6, or it may be arranged on the tunnel between the driver seat and the front passenger seat. As shown in figure 1, two redundant input devices 11 may be provided: one is housed in the steering wheel 6 and the other is arranged in a central portion of the dashboard 4.

According to the embodiment shown in figure 1, the input device 11 comprises an upper button 12, a lower button 13 and a rotatable knob 14 arranged between the two buttons 12 and 13.

According to a different embodiment shown in figure 3, the satellite navigation system 8 comprises only the screen 9 inserted in the instrument panel 5.

The satellite navigation system 8 is also provided with a control unit (not shown) comprising the control logic and the map memory; such control unit may be housed in an independent container arranged in a hidden position or may be integrated together with the screen 9 or the screen 10. Also in this case the input device 11 may be housed on the dashboard, on the steering-wheel 6 and/or on the tunnel between the driver seat and the front passenger seat.

According to a preferred embodiment, the control unit, an input device 11 and the screen 10 are integrated in a container made according to the DIN or dual DIN standard which is inserted in a central portion of the dashboard 4; a video cable, providing the video signal to the screen 9 inserted in the instrument panel 5, originates from such a container.

According to the embodiments shown in figures 2 and 3, the instrument panel 5 comprises an analog indicator (revolution indicator) 15, which is arranged in a central position and indicates the number of revolutions of an engine of the car 1; the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8 is arranged laterally beside the analog indicator 15. Furthermore, the instrument panel 5 comprises an analog indicator (speed indicator) 16, which is arranged laterally beside the analog indicator 15 on the opposite side with respect to the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8 and indicates the speed of the car 1. According to a different embodiment (not shown) , the analog indicator (speed indicator) 16 could be replaced by a digital number indicator, or it could be virtually made by means of a LCD screen. According to a further embodiment (not shown) , both of the analog indicators 15 and 16 are virtually made by LCD screens .

According to a different embodiment (not shown) , the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8 is arranged in a central portion of the instrument panel 5 and the instrument panel 5 comprises two analog indicators 15 and 16 (revolution indicator and speed indicator) , which are arranged on opposite sides of the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8 and indicate the speed of the car 1 and the number ^' of revolutions of an engine of the car. Also in this case both of the analog indicators 15 and 16 may be virtually made by LCD screens.

The above described car 1 displays many advantages, as it is easy and cost-effective to be made and especially allows the driver to see the directions for the route to be followed, displayed on the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8, without being distracted too much from driving the car 1. Such a result is obtained in virtue of the fact that, in order to look at the instrument panel 5 in which the screen 9 of the satellite navigation system 8 is inserted, the driver need not make any movement of the head, but instead only needs to slightly lower his/her head by in any case maintaining a certain peripheral vision of the road in front of the car 1 through the windshield 3. Instead, in a traditional car in which the screen of the satellite navigation system is arranged at the central tunnel, the driver needs to make a complete rotation of the head and totally look away from the road in front of the car 1 , in order to look at the screen of the satellite navigation system.

In light of the many advantages displayed, the above described features of the car 1 may be reproduced in any other type of motor vehicle, such as a bus, a van or a truck.

Claims

1) A motor vehicle (1) comprising: an interior compartment (2) to accommodate the driver; a dashboard (4) arranged in a front portion of the interior compartment (2); an instrument panel (5) obtained in the dashboard (4) in front of the driver; a steering-wheel (6), which may be turned in order to control a steering angle of the motor vehicle (1) , is arranged in front of the driver in front of the instrument panel (5) and displays at least an upper opening (7) to allow the driver to see the instrument panel (5) ; and a satellite navigation system (8) provided with at least one first screen (9) to display the directions for the route to be followed; the motor vehicle (1) is characterized in that the first screen (9) of the satellite navigation system (8) is inserted into the instrument panel (5) so as to be arranged in front of the driver and be visible for the driver through the upper opening (7) of the steering- wheel (6) .

2) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 1, wherein the satellite navigation system (8) also uses a second screen (10) , which is a duplication of the first screen (9) and is arranged in a central portion of the dashboard (4) between a driver seat and a front passenger seat.

3) A motor vehicle (1) according to claims 1 or 2 , wherein the first screen (9) of the satellite navigation system (8) is arranged in a central portion of the instrument panel (5); the instrument panel (5) comprises at least two analog indicators (15, 16) arranged on opposite sides of the first screen (9) of the satellite navigation system (8) . 4) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 3, wherein the two analog indicators (15, 16) indicate the speed of the vehicle (1) and the number of revolutions of an engine of the vehicle (1) .

5) A motor vehicle (1) according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the instrument panel (5) comprises at least a first analog indicator (15) , which is arranged in a central position; the first screen (9) of the satellite navigation system (8) is arranged laterally in front of the first analog indicator (15) . 6) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 5, wherein the first analog indicator (15) indicates the number of revolutions of an engine of the vehicle (1) .

7) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the instrument panel (5) comprises a second analog indicator (16), which is arranged laterally beside the first analog indicator (15) on the opposite side with respect to the first screen (9) of the satellite navigation system (8). 8) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 5, wherein the second analog indicator (16) indicates the speed of the vehicle (1) .

9) A motor vehicle (1) according to one of claims from 1 to 8 , wherein the satellite navigation system (8) comprises an input device (11) .

10) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 9, wherein the input device (11) is housed in the steering wheel ( 6 ) . 11) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 9, wherein the input device (11) is arranged in a central portion of the dashboard (4) between a driver seat and a front passenger seat.

12) A motor vehicle (1) according to claim 9, 10 or 11, wherein the input device (11) comprises an upper button (12), a lower button (13) and a rotatable knob (14) arranged between the two buttons (12, 13).

13) An instrument panel (5) for a motor vehicle (1) comprising a steering wheel (6) , which may be rotated to control a steering angle of the motor vehicle (1) , is arranged in front of the driver in front of the instrument panel (5) and displays at least an upper opening (7) to allow the driver to see the instrument panel (5 ) ; the instrument panel (5) is characterized in that a screen (9) of a satellite navigation system (8) is inserted in the instrument panel (5) so as to be arranged in front of the driver and be visible for the driver through the upper opening (7) of the steering wheel ( 6 ) .