McMaster start-up lets drivers customize their dashboards

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/car08.jpg” caption=”Tim Pryor, a McMaster student, has established Digital Dash, a company developing customizable dashboard technology for new model vehicles. File photo”]

For any driver who has been frustrated with the layout of their car's dashboard or control console, or who just wants to stylize it to match the look of their vehicle, help is on the way.

Tim Pryor, a Master of Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation student at McMaster University, has established Digital Dash, a company developing customizable dashboard technology for new model vehicles.

Digital Dash combines state-of-the-art multi-touch screen technology with conventional console knobs, buttons and sliders. The technology can also be applied to instrumentation such as a vehicle's speedometer, odometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, and numerous other indicators.

“Drivers should be able to customize the functions on their dashboard as easily as they program their cell phones,” says Pryor, president of Digital Dash. “It allows for greater personal style and comfort but also improved driving safety.”

Digital Dash is part of a growing movement to provide greater interior vehicle conveniences through advanced electronics.

Pryor has already caught the interest of a number of automotive and highway truck manufacturers in North America and abroad. A large appeal is that Digital Dash technology can be curved and shaped to fit all types of irregular surface areas unlike today's rigid dashboards. Another is that no wiring or interconnects are needed, reducing the parts required compared to current dashboards and consoles.

Inspiration for Digital Dash came from Pryor's father, Tim Pryor Sr., who owned several patents involving machine vision for computer interfaces. Pryor Sr., now retired but a partner in Digital Dash, had owned a company called Diffracto in Windsor, Ontario.

Pryor Jr. was working as a technical writer and software developer, having graduated with a computer science and music degree in 2000. Over a number of years the idea for Digital Dash came together and the company was formed in 2004.

“Miniaturization of electronic technology has reached a point where it is practical to build on and apply some of my father's machine vision patents,” explains Pryor. “This coincides with increased innovation in the automotive sector and the drive for more efficiently made vehicles, improved amenities and increased safety.”

As a true entrepreneur, Pryor looks to the future and sees the potential of applying Digital Dash technology across a wide variety of other applications.

For now, Pryor is focused on the automotive industry and if early interest is any indication, early adopters are just a touch away from another new, cool technology.