Most Recent Update: Sep 12, 2019
Comments: Diagram added. Will continue to add more details on switch functionality
Introduction
As we have continued to progress through the design cycle of MS-XIV, the vision of the interiors team has also continued to evolve and develop.
The main focus of interiors has and will continue to be on the occupants of the vehicle. However, our vision must also be designed around the higher goals of the car and the team.
For MS-XIV, we set out to design the winning cruiser-class solar car. In order to support this vision, interiors must also reframe its vision.
The 3 pillars of interiors should be:
- Minimalistic scoring-focused design
- Strategic feature inclusion
- Designing for ease of manufacturing and implementation
With this in mind, driver controls must also be designed as to build on these pillars. This means designing things in such away that they are strategic in points-scoring (both practicality and efficiency) while also being easily implemented both in hardware and in firmware.
Major Features
Driver Controls can be broken down as follows
Barebones Driver Controls & Display:
- Push-to-start
- E-stop
- Cabin BPS indicator
- Horn
- Accelerator Pedal
- Brake Pedal
- (Electronic) Parking Brake (*the electronic part is a strategic feature)
- Steering Wheel
- Turn Signal
- Drive State Selection (P,R,N,D)
- Headlights
- Hazard Light
- Rearview Camera
- Speedometer
Strategic Feature Inclusions:
- Side Cameras
- Cruise Control
- Regen Braking Toggle
- Radio PTT
- Infotainment Screen with smartphone connectivity
- Sound system
- Adjustable ventilation fans
These features are summarized below:
| Barebone Feature | Physical Location in Car | Primary Functionality | Secondary Functionality | Hardware & Operation | Sourcing Parts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Push-to-start | Centre console | Turns on car | Push button | Question: does this also turn the car off?
| |
| E-stop | Centre console | Driver presses button to kill car | Indicator light illuminates on dash | Special push/ twist to release E-stop Button | |
| Cabin BPS indicator | Centre console | Turns on if BPS fault | LED | ||
| Horn | Steering wheel | honk | Push Button | Can we reuse our current horn button/setup or do we need a new one? | |
| Accelerator Pedal | Pedal cluster | go faster | Off the shelf/ stolen accelerator pedal from real car | ||
| Brake Pedal | Pedal cluster | mechanical brake; regen brake | brake light, disables cruise control, enables car to be turned on, enables shifting drive modes into D or R | Custom maybe? Use encoder to sense rotation | |
| (Electronic) Parking Brake | Centre console | engage electronic parking brake | indicator light on dash | Lever. Pull up to engage, push down to disengage. Might need to steal from car | |
| Steering Wheel | Steering wheel | turns car | resets turn signals stalk | ||
| Turn Signal | Power Stalk | blinky lights, either temporary or locked | Custom lever. Flick up for right signal, down for left. | ||
| Drive State Selector | Centre Console | Changes drive mode from Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive | Appropriate rear signal lights turn on. reverse = reverse lights, all else = running lights Drive mode indicated on dash | All push buttons. Will need to depress brake to switch into Drive or Park | |
| Headlights | Power Stalk | headlights turn on, toggle between off, on, and maybe hi-beam? | indicator light will show on instrument cluster display | Custom knob. Twist to go between off, DRL, on, and hi-beam | |
| Hazard Light | Centre console | flashy flashy | Latching push button? Could also be regular push button | ||
| Rearview Camera | Centre console or dash | continuous rearward vision (from 0-30 deg from centre) | Always on | ||
| Speedometer | Dash | continuously displays speed of car | Speed displayed on Instrument Cluster | ||
| Strategic Features | Physical Location in Car | Primary Functionality | Secondary Functionality | ||
| Side Cameras | Centre console or dash | intermittent L/R side vision (30-60 deg from centre) | Can be turned on using turn signals and/or some other buttons on steering wheel (undecided) | ||
| Cruise Control (CC) | Steering wheel | maintains vehicle speed when activated. Target speed can be increased/decreased using buttons on steering wheel. CC can be disabled either from steering wheel or by pressing brake pedal | indicator light on dash. shows target speed on dash | A cluster of push buttons. Increase speed, decrease speed, and turn on/off (maybe hold for 1 sec to enable). | |
| Regen Braking Toggle | Steering Wheel | Turns on/off regen | Regen level displayed on instrument cluster display | Push button to switch between on/off. Could be updated later to cycle through various regen amounts. In case that the batteries are over 45 degrees celsius, we no longer can charge the batteries but the car can still drive. In such case firmware will disable regen, set the button state to "off", and disables it for the rest of the drive. | |
| Radio PTT | Steering wheel | activates radio | indicator light on dash | Push button | |
| Infotainment Screen with smartphone connectivity | Center console | shows a range of information non-essential to driving; supports android auto and apple car play for maps, music | |||
| Sound System | Throughout vehicle | Plays sick beats | |||
| Adjustable ventilation fans | Dash | Adjusts fan power for occupant ventilation |
Archived Resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1x7w4-MW3RmPzg76oRLMWgeVUpJ6C05qT
