From DigiFiz to Active Info Display – development of the digital cockpit

In 1986, Golf Mk2 surprised the automotive world with the ‘Digital Driver Information Centre’, or ‘DigiFiz’ for short.

Touchscreen instead of switches, personalised user profiles and ambience in place of one size fits all. Digitalisation at Volkswagen is advancing in leaps and bounds. Worlds lie between the first digital driver information centre from 1986 and the current Active Info Display – yet there are also astonishing parallels.

At the beginning is the question: ‘Why does everything in the car always have to be mechanical? We could in fact also look for electronic solutions!’,” says Dr Walter Zimdahl, who was responsible for the field of electronics in the Department of Future Research at the time. One result was the ‘DigiFiz’ – the short form of the German for ‘Digital Driver Information Centre’. It was in 1986, when a digital speedometer with a liquid-crystal screen appeared in the Golf Mk2 and Jetta Mk2.

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The new Polo: The interaction between the Active Info Display and the infotainment system produces a new digital and interactive cockpit environment.

DigiFiz – a pioneering achievement
It offered innovations that literally caught the eye of the beholder, beginning purely externally with what – for the time – were futuristic-looking digital displays and continuing to their precision that is unrivalled to date. These included above all the digital speed and route displays, the fuel gauge measuring to the precise litre, the coolant temperature to the precise degree and the reminder of the next service appointment.

These are stories that Tomasz Bachorski listens to with fascination: “Without these pioneering deeds, such as the DigiFiz, we wouldn’t have the Active Info Display in production today,” says the Head of Interior Design for the Volkswagen Brand, complimenting Zimdahl and his colleagues at that time.

In 2018, digitalisation has also long since reached Volkswagen Interior Design in all its information functions and comfort zones – which, according to Bachorski, is also what presents the challenge: “Functional, trustworthy technology – in the displays for speed and fuel consumption for example – in harmony with attractive aesthetics and graphic excellence.” And, above all, with a healthy portion of options for individualisation.

New Polo, new digital cockpit

Bachorski looks back fondly upon the development of the new Polo, which appeared for the first time with a digital cockpit at its launch in 2017. The sixth generation of Polo was the first Volkswagen, and the first model in the Volkswagen Group, to feature a new generation of the Active Info Display. A new control panel and cockpit layout for compact Volkswagen models was used for the first time. During the design and development process, the focus was on the increasing digitalisation of the display and controls, as well as the connectivity, which required new solutions. The Volkswagen interface designers consistently further developed the Active Info Display, taking the high-quality graphics and range of functions to a new level.

In concrete terms, this means that the second generation of the Active Info Display operates exclusively digitally – within the framework of the legal provisions that stipulate certain fixed elements such as the indicator lamp for the parking brake – and is, for instance, freely configurable. “From the functional displays to the coordination of instrument lighting and ambient light, everything can be individually selected – if you so wish,” explains Bachorski. In the future, the system will additionally ‘notice’ individual settings of display functions and lighting and will apply them as from the second setting operation. The whole process takes place without obligation: “The driver is asked: ‘May your car get to know you, yes or no?’” Bachorski points out.

A kind of blue: from the Golf Mk4 onwards, the compact class turned digital.

The completely glass-covered system without analogue buttons allows functions and design to blend with one another. “Digitalisation opens up entirely new stylistic options for us designers, as in the Innovision Cockpit of the new Touareg,” continues Bachorski enthusiastically. His team has been involved in the development from the outset, exchanges ideas with ergonomics experts, the developers, consults with sales and pays particular attention to the user experience. In other words, there is direct feedback from users in ‘real life’.

From miniscreen to multifunction display

The miniscreen called DigiFiz was not in great demand from the customers at that time. Today, it is an extremely sought-after classic item with cult status.

Another milestone on the long road to digitisation of the cockpit, which is also a basic requirement for strategic future issues of today – such as electric mobility or connected driving – was the centrally positioned ‘multifunction display’ (MFD) that first appeared in Volkswagen production vehicles with the Golf Mk4. In addition to the hitherto unprecedented high resolution of the large screen, it offered coloured navigation maps for the first time. It was a technical masterpiece which the interior developers and designers of today can continue to seamlessly exploit, as Bachorski points out.

Golf IV with multifunction display: at the base of the analogue round instruments, rectangular digital displays are integrated for the first time to indicate time, distance covered and daily kilometres.

Attractive prospects: with the digital operating and display concept, Volkswagen presents the Innovision Cockpit, which was launched with the new Touareg. The completely new operating concept merges the Active Info Display and the infotainment system into one. Functions are operated by touchscreen, voice commands or gesture control.

Crystalline challenges

Ah yes, the timeless quality mentioned at the beginning. Change and innovation – wasn’t there something else as well …? That’s it, the keyword of ‘liquid crystal display’. “We found what we were looking for from a producer of digital watches,” reports Dr Walter Zimdahl on the pioneering age of DigiFiz. “The only problem was the crystals in the watches could no longer be aligned to an electric field at temperatures above 50 degrees; everything turned grey or black and white, you could no longer make anything out. In the Golf and Jetta, however, the display had to function within a temperature range of minus 40 to +80 degrees!” Instrument manufacturer VDO was consulted – and together we achieved production maturity.

Tomasz Bachorski can only agree: he too knows the crystalline challenges. “Yet ultimately it was not a problem for us – the Active Info Display is clearly legible in every climatic zone. Night or day, with spectacles or sunglasses.”

So the outlook is good. For the future as well.

“Turn it up!”

The radio in the Volkswagen Golf, an example of digitalisation in the cockpit

1974 – Radio ‘Braunschweig’

1st generation: One rotary knob switches the radio on and adjusts the volume. On the right is another for selecting the station. Three buttons in between: one for AM and two for FM. Nothing else is needed in the Golf Mk1.

1983 – Radio ‘gamma’

2nd generation: Digital makes its mark in the Golf Mk2 – at least to a small extent. The ‘gamma’ cassette radio shows the radio frequency in digital form in an LCD display.

1991 – Radio ‘alpha’

3rd generation: It’s still necessary to turn the small knob in the Golf Mk3 to listen to the hits of the 90s live on the car radio. On the other hand, traffic bulletins are now broadcast automatically.

1997 – Radio ‘gamma’

4th generation: Paradigm shift: the ‘gamma’ radio comes for the first time with a CD-changer connection. The large ‘multifunction display’ (MFD) adds a little colour to the picture.

2003 – ‘RCD 300’

5th generation: In the Golf Mk5, launched in 2003, the cassette is now old hat and, in exchange, the mobile phone becomes part of the system. As a further option, the MFD2 can be connected up to an MP3 player.

2008 – ‘RNS 510’

The ‘RNS 510’ introduces multimedia: touchscreen, DVD drive and a 30-GB hard disk celebrate their premiere. Afterwards, the traditional radio is replaced by the ‘DISCOVER PRO’ in the current Golf starting in 2016. Its functions blend with the optionally available digital instruments to form the ‘Active Info Display’.