Add a virtual smart highway to the dashboard

I really like the Dutch smart highway design; if you haven't seen it yet, you really should check it out.  Of all the concept proposals, I'm quite partial to the dynamic paint concept, which is supposed to alert drivers to the condition of the road surface, particularly freezing conditions, by changing color and pattern based on the temperature. My (sadly totaled) BMW used to alert me when the temperature was below 37F, but the audible warning was a bit on the annoying side.  The smart highway system addresses this issue in a much more pleasing way.

The smart highway is a very aesthetic vision of what the future could be, although it's a future that is likely only applicable to small, dense countries (ahem... Netherlands) or limited urban areas. Here in Houston, I'd settle for many of the potholes being fixed -- I think it's even become one of the top election season topics -- so smart infrastructure likely isn't right around the corner.

Dutch Smart Highway concept for temperature sensitive, dynamic paint.  Credit Studio Roosegaarde & Heijmans.

But seriously, why wait? In v7.0, the instrument panel in now a virtual road, complete with lanes and virtual traffic. In my second suggestion, I advocated upgrading this virtual smart road to display more noticeable blind spot warnings in the neighboring lanes (or shoulder as the case may be), but really there's no reason not to update the main lane to show advisory conditions.  I'd envision this working in much the same vein as the dynamic paint: turning the lane 'icy' or displaying snowflakes if the temperature is appropriately cold.

Just a quick concept sketch.  The snow probably needs a bit more contrast and colorization to have the right pop, but it's a start.  Snowflakes are from Obsidian Dawn

One significant advantage of a virtual display is that it can incorporate dynamics from the car (traction control) in the display.  Using dynamics, it would be possible not just to change the size or shape of the snowflakes based on the temperature as in the dynamic paint example, but these snowflakes could be made red or such when slippage is detected. When combined with a source of weather radar data, such as suggested in the adding weather data to maps, this display could also warn of rain slicked surfaces.

Here the snow turns yellow and red to indicate that the car's traction control system has detected some slippage.  As with the previous sketch, this one could use a bit more contrast for emphasis.  Snowflakes are from Obsidian Dawn.

At some point in the future, I'll try to get a rain sketch uploaded and may continue to play with the visuals to make them more interesting.  I think the main point gets across, though.

Clean up the cold weather menu

So maybe it was a bout of wishful thinking since the highs for the past week have been around 90F (~32C), but I decided to play with the neglected Cold Weather menu to see if anything has changed in v7.0.  I can't really say it has, but two little things bothered me me none-the-less:

First, there is this little button in the lower left corner titled "ALL OFF".  While I can imagine a good use for this button, it's display is a bit curious since I didn't have a single heated element activated.  Please hide the "ALL OFF" button or change it to "ALL ON" when no elements are active.

Second, why are my heated seat controls black but my steering wheel and windshield wiper heaters white?  Maybe I'm completely off base here, but could the buttons please all be a the same color?  The subtle outline for the seats also seems a bit distracting and unnecessary, but I could be very, very wrong.