Hyundai/Kia is steering into the digital future.

*render originally posted byCarbuzz

Hyundai might be proudly Korean, but the company has a collection of global design studios.

One of these is in Germany and the European design centre in Russelheim has gone beyond creating a future vision of the steering wheel.

There is a significant difference between concept sketches and an actual patent application. Hyundai’s decision to evolve its latest steering wheel design to the patent stage shows real intent to make this part of a future model in its portfolio.

What makes the new steering wheel design so radical? Instead of an airbag boss, it features a digital instrumentation cluster in the middle. The patent application clearly shows a display screen module, placed in the middle of the steering wheel, with CarBuzz creating a graphic rendering of what that could look like.

Hyundai’s designers appear to want to eliminate the traditional dash-mounted instrumentation cluster altogether in some of their future models. To achieve a cleaner look for the cabin architecture, Hyundai’s solution is a steering wheel display screen.

Although the idea is novel, there are some issues. Hyundai says airbag inflation is not compromised by the screen design, although that appears difficult to believe. We assume the screen has a drop-hinge function, which allows the airbag to inflate, as required, but that seems to imply a lot of additional engineering and cost.

The other issue is simple:why?The head-up display has proven to be a great solution, projecting instrumentation binnacle functions into the driver’s field of view and road.

By removing most of the crucial vehicle display functions so far below the road’s field of view, isn’t the Hyundai design merely exacerbating driver distraction issues?

The Hyundai display screen steering wheel patent also foregoes satellite controls. This might indicate that future Hyundai models might be completely reliant on voice for infotainment and cruise control functions.

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