back to article Kia POPs out see-through OLED dash readout

Kia's POP may be an all-electric, but it's yet another blobby concept car of the kind that will never appear on the nation's roads, and as such we considered ignoring its Paris Motor Show appearance. Kia POP But it has one point of interest: the dash assembly includes a transparent OLED panel that rises up behind the oblong …

COMMENTS

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  1. LaeMing
    Boffin

    88mph is all you need

    That and a flux capacitor.

    1. CaptainHook
      Stop

      No Flaming Tyre Tracks

      There's no way those lithium batteries are going to be able to supply 1.21 gigawatts.

    2. Haku

      1.21 GIGGAWATTS!!!

      On a related note, has everyone else booked their tickets for the return of Back To The Future in cinemas in October?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      88.8

      Being pedantic, it was actually 88.8 MPH ;) So it it needs to be going downhill to make it!

      On another note though, the steering wheel isn't actually a square either (it's rectangular) which if you removed the top segment, is not overly different to a rather popular car from the 80s which drove itself ;)

  2. amanfromearth
    FAIL

    Seen it before

    Square steering wheel will never make it to production. The only one that did (in the 70s) was changed within a few months.

    1. Tom_
      Stop

      square steering wheel

      Yup... fine for driving down the motorway, but not so useful if you want to go around a corner or park or something.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    a top speed of 88mph?

    a top speed of 88mph? are flux capacitors an optional extra?

  4. Danny 14

    ambient lighting

    It will be nice to see if it works in strong sunshine.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    D:

    god that is pretty horrible, why cant people go hey, we want to make an electric car, lets just design a car that looks nice like we do with our petrol/diesel cars but instead it runs on batteries. I mean come on 99% of electric cars look like 1/2 seater frogs.

    1. strum
      Thumb Down

      Uh-huh

      >god that is pretty horrible, why cant people go hey, we want to make an electric car, lets just design a car that looks nice like we do with our petrol/diesel cars but instead it runs on batteries.

      So, basically, you want an electric car that looks like it runs on petrol?

      Petrol/diesel cars are designed round the premise that you need one box for the engine, another big box for the passengers and (optionally) a smaller box for luggage.

      Take away the internal cumbustion engine, and the first box isn't necessary - you're free to design the thing to suit the people in it (not the sidewalk critics).

      I've even seen reports that Volvo are planning to build parts of their bodywork out of batteries - so there's even less restriction in the ultimate shape.

      1. xj25vm

        @strum

        "Petrol/diesel cars are designed round the premise that you need one box for the engine, another big box for the passengers and (optionally) a smaller box for luggage."

        First of all - think of so many people carriers in production today. They don't look like three boxes to me. Not even like two boxes. They are all one bubble, pretty aerodynamic - and also built as one compartment to be partitioned and used as needed. So can't really see the electric motor re-inventing the wheel there.

        Secondly, I believe the original poster was referring to aesthetic aspects. For many years designers developed beautiful flowing lines for (some) cars - many of them very aerodynamic and with a very efficient use of internal space. Another wheel that doesn't need to be re-invented. Same needs apply to electric cars. So nothing wrong with an electric car looking like a (nice, aerodynamic and functional) petrol/ICE car.

    2. Captain Save-a-ho
      Grenade

      @ AC 10:45 GMT

      If you have any lick of sense, you'd realize how hard it is to build an electric car. The sheer weight of the batteries alone makes most mainstream designs infeasible as purely electric cars. Yes, the electric car designs are dreadful, but concept cars generally are.

      Since you're so smart, go knock on the door of your nearest auto plant and offer your own design up. Or, better yet, start your own car manufacturer and put everyone else out of business. Otherwise, STFU.

    3. Steven Knox
      Boffin

      Forget the Shape

      How about one where the trim color doesn't murder the eyes?

  6. MattW

    Oh my God

    Square steering wheel!

    Austin Allergic, sorry, Allegro!

    It's doomed...

  7. Lickass McClippers
    Megaphone

    Just me...

    ...or does that door not look like it fits the aperture..??

  8. Code Monkey

    "when he or she glances down to check it"

    Surely "when SHE glances down..."

  9. TeeCee Gold badge
    WTF?

    Eh?

    What the hell's up with the door?

    Looks like it's too big for the hole. Some sort of optical illusion / weird perspective effect or does it really stick up above the roof when closed like that (and presumably leaks like a bucket with holes in when it rains)? If the latter, why can't we see the top of the one on the other side?

    Looks like someone screwed up in Photoshop and then went on to build the result.

  10. GilbertFilbert
    Joke

    Looks like a vaccuum cleaner

    The title is the message. PS I would like to request the option for multiple icons Joke and Fail in this case.

  11. Haku

    Just one small question:

    Where the hell are you going to store a 15 inch diameter philips screwdriver to take the wheels off?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Urgh

    It's almost as ugly as the Fiat Multipla.

  13. adrianww
    Go

    There are already cars with HUDs

    Well, of a sort. A few years ago I was driving around Las Vegas in a Pontiac Grand Am hire car. One of the fun options fitted to this big chunk of metal (aside from a stonkingly big V8 engine) was a projected HUD that showed stuff like your current speed, which gear you were in and one or two other things (if I remember rightly). The display was projected out of a dark recess on the top of the instrument binnacle and appeared on the bottom edge of the windscreen. Legibility was good even in daylight and the display was well-positioned - high enough to be easily seen, but low enough not to obscure the view ahead. At night it was great. There was even an option to turn off the internal instrument lighting and use the HUD only, which was great for those Secret-Agent-Man style cruises down the Strip.

    I don't know whether Pontiac still offer than option on their cars, but they should. It was fun!

    1. Ugotta B. Kiddingme
      Boffin

      Pontiac

      "I don't know whether Pontiac still offer than option on their cars..."

      er, no. They don't. General Motors, the parent of Pontiac (and Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, etc) killed off the Pontiac brand over a year ago. Many folks over here believed that Pontiac was an acronym meaning "Poor Old Numpty Thinks It's A Cadillac"

      Pontiac had some GREAT classics in days of yore (original GTO, anyone?). However in later years their cars were mostly crap, which didn't sell very well, which is why GM killed the brand.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    3D

    If you put 2 transparent OLEDs in an X shape couldn't you create a 3D display on the dash which could be useful with a parking camera or mirrors or something?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    100 miles???

    And how far will it go with the heater on in the winter or the a.c. on in the summer?

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