Massive Cadillac Lyriq Screen Sign Of Unboxing Future Vehicle Displays

When the battery electric 2023 Cadillac Lyriq SUV arrives next year, it may mark the beginning of the end for the familiar rectangular display screen. Instead of a single, center-mounted screen, the Lyriq will feature a curved LED display that measures 33-inches diagonally and serve as the instrument cluster, infotainment system and control for lighting with the ability to emit over a billion colors.

The almost cabin-wide screen can act as a single unit or be divided into three areas, according to longtime General Motors software partner Altia, which played a key role in developing the display through use of its human-machine interface solutions.

Altia CEO Mike Juran says through its ongoing work on other GM vehicles his company was aware of the direction the automaker was headed.

“The Lyriq became a gateway for GM to move from a more traditional driver/vehicle relationship to this next generation,” Juran explained in an interview.

This “next generation,” Juran says, means how drivers and their vehicles will interact, especially with the evolution of advanced driver assist technologies including Cadillac’s semi-autonomous Super Cruise systems. Those systems necessarily will need to better inform drivers of the vehicle’s status and other conditions as well as providing more intuitive and easy to use controls.

While the Cadillac Lyriq represents a concrete move away from the traditional rectangular screen, Juran notes, the vehicle’s advanced display is also a clear view into the way the auto industry as a whole is headed.

“The trend that’s happened is, now car companies are thinking about UI (user interface) on the glass as a first surface design element as opposed to let’s build a car then let’s slap a 17-inch monitor on it and let whoever is building apps throw in whatever they want,” said Juran. “This thing is integrated into the vehicle from both an aesthetic, user experience, and, most importantly, a safety perspective.”

There’s also power and environmental perspectives. A key element of GM’s marching orders to Altia was to somehow produce a rich graphics display that neither drains significant power from an electric vehicle’s battery or contributes to harmful emissions, according to Juran.

“The software done incorrectly and poorly can burn a lot CO2 and burn a lot of watts,” he explained.

The first step, Juran said, is to understand that a vehicle is different from a mobile phone which must be engineered to handle many different tasks and is therefore power hungry. GM, he said, created the display architecture reflecting the fact that it need only handle functions specific and necessary to the vehicle.

One Altia’s end, “We’ve turned that realization into the ability to create really rich looking graphics without having to use a lot of really expensive microprocessors that burn a lot of wattage,” said Juran.

“Altia enables ultimate creativity through their unique HMI development strategy—supporting extensive configurability of cockpit displays, including the one found in Lyriq Altia provides a straightforward workflow that accommodates a wide variety of graphics assets—including real-time 3D,” said Scott Martin, Creative Director, GM User Interface Design in a statement.

While Altia used gaming architecture Unreal Engine as an element in creating the system, Juran emphatically points out the intent was not to gamify vehicle operation.

“If we need to run Android apps or Spotify or Google maps in the car, let’s enable that, but the car itself should not be run completely by a game engine or by Android, or iOS or Windows or whatever. A car is really a different beast. It’s two tons of steel barreling down the road at 60 mph. The control and the access to all of those systems in the car needs to be very well defined and separated from entertainment aspect,” said Juran.

While Cadillac is GM’s premium brand, Juran says some version of its advanced LED display could become available on a broader range of the automaker’s product line.

“Everything we design and architect and all the tools we put together for them are all applicable to the lowest cost vehicle. They can take all the assets they designed, rebrand it, maybe remove some capability and features, rescale it to a smaller display, push a button and now you have something for a Chevy Bolt and it’s appropriate for that,” Juran said.

It all points to the era of the rectangular screen, eventually, fading to black.