The next step: Concept art

The next step is creating a concept of its design. Because we are working with a digital screen, we can design a wide range of layouts without any restraints. Critical is to include all the original indicators in the design and have room for multiple data fields to display the Board Computer information.

Theme #1 (You’re looking at the concept art of what might become the default design for the following BMW E46 Digital Instrument Cluster)

This concept takes a minimalistic approach to Skeuomorphism. Skeuomorphism is an embellished UI design style intended to make elements resemble their real-world counterparts. Small details with shadows and highlights emphasize each of the individual indicators and contrast with the minimalistic color scheme and subtle gradients.

Theme 2#

Inspired by the original BMW E46 instrument cluster, The analog gauges with traditional pointers and tick-mark patterns are inspired by the original BMW E46 instrument cluster. The beautiful blue and red color scheme strongly represent the vehicle's brand value and recognition.

Theme 3#
The cluster will have 3 different layouts/themes from the start, so you can switch as you like.

To get an idea of how the cluster would behave, we have made a simulation on the testbench.

We would love to hear your feedback and if you like the idea.

Up next:

• The internal menu
• The wiring and connectors
• Getting the signals

 

This looks really nice! A few ideas I have right off the bat that would be cool if you could somehow integrate.

1) Manual - shift lights
2) Ibus display - I have the resler ibus interface hooked up to my headunit and use the ibus app with it. One of the screens they have shows horespower along with other standard instrument cluster gauges. Would be cool to be able to replicate on the cluster instead of the headunit.

Looking forward to see where this goes!

 

Hello guys, let me answer some questions:

• The is shift lights will be implemented. You will be able to turn on and of the shift lights, and set the Max. RPM, the Red zone, and the Orange zone.
• Showing torque and horsepower numbers will also be implemented and can be turned on and off.

I want one!

Where do I sign?

We have started a newsletter for some updates, you can sign up here

Very interested for this project. Is it possible to add additional features that are reported over Canbus? Such as boost pressure, AFR, oil temp, current gear, gearbox oil temp, etc?

Yes, this will be the goal. We just started to decode parts of the Canbus, and if it is in there we want to display it.

If there is no Fuel Economy display, I’m interested. I swapped my cluster to M3 just to get rid of that annoying fuel economy indicator.

No problem, you will be able to turn on and off the different features.

I guess the whole idea if digital dash is to configure it as you want.
surely there will be an optionthat excludes this.
is there any indication on the pricing yet?

Yes, that is right, the idea is to configure as you want.

Price will be around the same as our e90 cluster, with the base price below 1000.- US dollar and all the features are a bit above the 1K.

Numbers are key in this, if we can buy our components in bigger bulk we can do more with the price. We are hard on the way, but the chip shortage and other components and even the steel prices aren't kind to our production cost. To be clear we build these displays in-house in the Netherlands to an automotive standard, not a Chinees android version.

Interested. I hope there are more themes. Maybe just like the normal analog but with the ability to adjust different colors. Also ability to show canbus info or other info from other monitors would be cool too

First, there will be these 3 versions with color differences and later on, we are looking to implement the analog versions we have from the E90 in the E46

 

I want one!

Where do I sign?

 

Very interested for this project. Is it possible to add additional features that are reported over Canbus? Such as boost pressure, AFR, oil temp, current gear, gearbox oil temp, etc?

 

Very nice project. To be honest I really prefer the old school analog instrument cluster, and I wouldn't upgrade my radio (bmw professional cd54) either for the same reason. But I think this looks really cool, congrats on the design.

It would be nice if you could share the technical details about the signals, CAN messages, etc. That could be useful for us.

Is the UI written in Qt/Qml maybe?

BTW on the dashboard you could implement the M track mode for the M3, and the shift lights, etc.

 

Looks great .. definitely interested

 

Oh man, when your instrument cluster cost more than the car.

I do like it though. I wouldn't have to worry about that cluster dot at all anymore.

 

If there is no Fuel Economy display, I’m interested. I swapped my cluster to M3 just to get rid of that annoying fuel economy indicator.

 

I guess the whole idea if digital dash is to configure it as you want.
surely there will be an optionthat excludes this.
is there any indication on the pricing yet?

 

I will start saving,1-2K dollars is what other models cost depending on abilities as listed in the video.

 

This is very neat! Looking forward to the end product.

 

Interested. I hope there are more themes. Maybe just like the normal analog but with the ability to adjust different colors. Also ability to show canbus info or other info from other monitors would be cool too

 

Please no economy meter!

 

Now just wait for it to materialize rather than just talks and concepts.

 

Hopefully it's budget friendly. Probably have different variants depending on budget range. Because if it's expensive, nobody would want it.

 

Lol not true. I’ll promote the shit out of this this and I know a lot of people that’ll buy it. Idk the price. I’d pay $1,500 for a good display

 

I’m really interested in this, I never even knew this was a thing.
Would be great if you’d be able to include track/radio information on the screen from the radio (not sure if this is possible if you can get them to talk to eachother), much like what many of the modern cars have just where it displays the info. Track/radio change info would be a bonus.
Looking forward to this being launched

 

I would love this.
Heel goed.

Must haves will be:

• Economy meter
• Oil and coolant temp
• Rev counter with needle (rapidly changing numbers are distracting and not practical IMHO)

Wish list:

• Current gear indicator for auto boxes in D mode
• Current track playing & call-info if aftermarket head unit has Canbus integration
• User selectable info to be displayed in dedicated space (e.g.: date, outside temp, range, Ave. fuel consumption) when pressing BC button on stalk

 

Following and interested depending on price

 

Are you going to implement all the bus functionality that the IKE is responsible for? For example:

• Bridging the I/K-Bus with the D-Bus solely for diagnostic requests/responses
• Reporting Ignition state to the I/K-bus (without this, the dash will not allow cars with OE Navigation to work)
• Reporting Sensor data to the I/K-Bus (Ambient temperature, speed/RPM (every 2 seconds), coolant temperature, fuel economy 1 & 2, etc)
• Acknowledging all inputs from the LSZ.
• Pulling up the I/K-Bus to VSS (less important since there are master backups).
• Dealing with Redundant data (VIN & mileage information sent from the LSZ to the IKE to trigger the tamper dot)

Thanks!
-Ted

 

What ever you do, for the love of god, please make sure stability is at the forefront of your production. It doesn't need to have a trillion bells and whistles as long as it runs well and is stable. I want to build a reliable build, and keep the e46 reliable as it was when it was from the factory. I don't want to have to to restart my car half way through every trip because something important stopped working.

 

I think having it look modern and up to date would be amazing, perhaps having some look a like features from the supra mk5 cluster (which is just a bmw cluster) where if you set it in sport mode it's just one nice big rpm gauge and essential info and lights on the sides of the cluster and then when you go back to drive it switches the display back to the set setting chosen.

i think also having some integration with third party headunits being in sync and sharing data would be super useful! say for example the headunit shares gps data with the cluster and the cluster could display an arrow pointing to the next turn to make, that would make the driving experience that more engaging and interesting. However i do know the complications that might bring when programing it would be a great feature set to have and a very unique one at that!

Would the display also be an oled panel or what kind of technology would be used for this? And would after market ecus integrate properly into this cluster?

I'm really excited for the creation of this and would love to see it come to life and have it sit on my bimmer it would def help it feel like im driving a newer modern car!

Key feature im mostly looking forward is a clean look that's easy to look at and gives all the essentials without being over cluttered or lacking information.

 

Hi!

I do business at Precision Sport Industries (PSI) [where Vehicle Virals is based].
I've seen one of the units firsthand. I went seeking one for the e46 a good while back, but it didn't yet exist.
I'm excited: It's on the 'must have' list. Do you do pre-release orders?

My comparison (for 'wants') is against my 2015 C7 Corvette Stingray's cluster..

Must haves:
Compatibility with a convertible (the convertible top module doesn't work unless the cluster is in the car, and responding).
Even if not available on initial release, a promise of a software update for future compatibility with a 'vert would do.

Wants / Nice to have:
I/K bus data capture to a SD card (in case say, we don't have the I/K bus messages for a convertible, or parking sensors, or some other feature, we can capture it for you...).
User-configurable display (the 'vette allows you to move the various information bits around so you can do things like water temp on the left, and oil temp on the right of the main display, or the opposite (oil temp on the left, and water on the right).
Oil Temp / Water Temp display on the main screen somewhere (digital/numerical, and/or a 'classic' needle).
Fuel gauge (classic/needle).
Current gear displayed (for ZF/GM based automatic transmissions).
Shift lights (already implemented based on the data in this thread).
Exterior temp on the display somewhere.
Pretty much all of the list from t2ddftw's post.

Shoot for the moon list:
Direct CAN (I/K bus) input (say, from a non-Bosch ECU (DME) for us crazy guys that swap in LS [and other] engines.) Having oil pressure/diff-oil-temp via a mappable CAN message would be stunning.

Where do I sign up for a pre-order / beta-tester / pre-release development version?


Dan B

 

Viewing the thread title I was thinking this was going to be stupid ugly but after looking at the OP I think you guys are no to something. Great work!

 

Looks great! I will definitely be keeping my eye on this one.

 

Two features I have in mind, the first would be a brightness bump up for convertibles on a sunny day.

the second is a long shot, but would it be possible to integrate an OBD2 reader into the display? Maybe get a license from icarsoft. The type of people who will buy this are probably DIYers, and having that capability would be huge