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NEWS
Volvo Penta designs future helm station
Swedish engine maker looks to its auto division for inspiration. But look mum -- no wheel!Car drivers start their engines, electrical systems and instruments with the single push of a button. In the boating world it’s not quite that simple -- yet.
Volvo Penta has started development work for integrated, modularised and more user-friendly helm stations for the boats of tomorrow.
The Swedish engine maker has released first outlines of how these helm stations will look in the future. The development has well and truly moved in the direction of the automotive industry, with fully integrated and user-friendly “driver environments.” Yet there is no steering wheel.
Ergonomics and field of vision are two areas of the helm station where Volvo Penta has identified a great potential for improvement. It is here that Volvo Penta is adopting “the advanced know-how that is available within other businesses in the Volvo Group including trucks, construction equipment and buses.”
Volvo says it is these fields that deliver products with professional driver environments, with heavy demands on safety, field of vision and ergonomics, where the seats, the controls and instruments are optimised in order to create the best possible conditions for the driver.
“There’s a lot of inspiration to be gathered from here for the boating industry,” says Anders Bondesson head of design at Volvo Penta.
“It’s only natural that we, in our role as supplier of the most important component of the boat’s energy system, are the ones pushing the fast technical developments of solutions that make life easier and safer for boat builders and boat owners alike.”
Volvo Penta’s vision for the future is to deliver complete and ergonomically optimised modules where the boat’s propulsion system is fully integrated with the navigation and communication instruments and all other electrical equipment on board.
“Since the actual needs and the interior design differ so much between different boat types, we’ll never be able to design a driver environment that fits all boats, but we’ll be able to offer more standardised and intuitive solutions that take the driver’s needs into account much more than today,” says Bondesson.
Volvo Penta has no launch date for its complete new driver environments at this point but it does say its Joystick Driving (see video below) feature launched earlier this year could be a key part of the “increased integration between engine and instruments.”
“There are a lot of things going on in these areas and we want to take advantage of the new technology in order to create intuitive and user-friendly helm stations that make it possible for boaters to think less about navigation and the next docking and instead, with increased safety, enjoy their boating experience,” says Bondesson.
The artist’s impression accompanying this article reveals how future driver environments might look – ergonomically designed and with the latest technology easily accessible for the driver. And without a steering wheel!
Volvo Penta says its vision is to offer complete helm stations with the same user-friendliness as a car or a truck.
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Written byBoatsales Staff
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