Road infrastructure in India is being upgraded at a rapid pace. Quality of life of people has also improved significantly in the last decade. Such trends have significantly impacted design of commercial vehicles and vehicular systems in the country.
This paper deals with the design and development of a modern futuristic instrument panel for trucks. Methodology to arrive at product features and solutions which retain their novelty and appeal for a longer term has also been illustrated. Regulatory scenario, modularity, HMI, Perceived Quality, Driver Comforts, evolving technologies, trends and materials are some of the considerations which have discussed in detail. International benchmarks and customer requirement have been analyzed for setting Performance targets. A digital approach for evaluating these considerations evolved during the design and development process has been elaborated in detail.
Design verifications methodology has been formulated at digital level and physical validation plans have been developed to make it a modular design capable of catering to multiple variants with minimal changes. These designs have then been converted to physical prototypes which were successfully validated with the above methodologies and subsequently implemented in the final product.