Denso Dash Has an iPhone Steering Wheel

Everyone owns a smartphone so why not integrate it into your future car? Many automobile companies are already integrating them because it could be the next big thing. Skip the built-in GPS screen, plug in your iOS device and do more! Denso is showing a futuristic dashboard, with an iPhone embedded in the center of the steering wheel. Sounds distracting and dangerous but it controls the infotainment system and a small, circular LCD above with some widgets you can flick & bounce with a touch from the iPhone. It also communicates with traffic lights to inform you what speed to drive in order to meet them when they’re all green. Weird I know, but the idea is to save fuel (and money) by not stopping and starting all the time.

Video after the break.

One other important feature the dash can do is detect when you’re about to fall asleep at the wheel. How it works: one of the widgets is a coffee cup that ‘virtually’ empties as you’re dozing off; a web cam on top of the dash tracks your face and eyes to check your alertness. The dash starts blinking red when your eyes close for too long and your head begins to drop. Sounds a little too freaky but I guess it could keep you awake. Maybe they should also install a built-in Espresso machine to help with your lazy driving.

[via Engadget]