Preh has unveiled its innovative driver controls concept for agricultural machines at Agritechnica 2017. The company’s prototype design has simplified the system by significantly reducing the number of switches and is intended to be more intuitive for operator.
Michael Jendis, director of the commercial vehicle human machine interface division at Preh, said, “We want to bring the future potential of the latest operating technologies to our customers in a practical fashion.
“We are therefore presenting the latest innovation from our advanced development phase in the form of a concept study that enables new ways of selecting functions to be tested directly.”
The double display unit is moved to the left after the driver has taken his seat, which results in an ergonomically ideal working position. To the right of the driver’s seat is an innovative two-way drive lever with noticeable corners and edges, which is also designed to fit comfortably and ergonomically into the hand. A mini-touch sensor integrated into the surface can be operated by the thumb, which among other things also controls the 7in display to the left of the drive lever. In the right half of the double display unit is a touch user interface, which can be freely configured. The ingenious innovation here is that if you press your finger on the surface to select a function, you get a noticeable haptic feedback – much like the pressure with a conventional switch.
Jendis added “With a special actuator unit, we can create high-quality and robust haptic feedback, which is series-compatible both for various operating systems and touchscreens.”
