FUTURE INSTRUMENTS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32640, 23 June 1971, Page 12

FUTURE INSTRUMENTS

“The Dashboard Revolution” is the title and subject of a new book published in Britain, and produced in association with Smiths Industries. The publication has been designed as a'concise practical guide to car instrumentation. Starting with a history of car instruments, the book devotes separate chapters to insruments which can be fitted to the modem car, their installation and their value to the driver. Separate chapters are devoted to revolution indicators; oil pressure and temperature gauges; oil level indicators; outside air

thermometers and car clocks. ■ Other chapters cover warning devices, “tell-tales” and supplementary instrument panels; Special instruments for competition use, as well as the car instruments which will face drivers in the future are also covered. For the future, the book forsees the increasing popularity of instruments which combine the maximum nunv ber of functions within one dial. One possibility, the book says, is that instruments as we know them may cease to exist. In their place, data

may be projected on to the lower part of the windscreen where it can be more easily seen. Instruments which initiate corrective action in the event of a failure are another possibility, while more extensive use of lights and sounds, to provide warning of a malfunction, will almost certainly be a feature of future cars. Even vehicle automatic guidance systems; says “The Dashboard Revolution,” are becoming more practical propositions and are no longer “just a science-fic-tion writer's crazy dream?’