The 2022 Nissan Ariya promises to be a game-changing electric vehicle for the car manufacturer and beyond its futuristic design and impressive powertrain specs, it also has an interior unlike any other production car.
Like so many other EVs, Nissan has removed as many physical buttons and switches from the cabin of the Ariya as possible and replaced them with touch-buttons. That’s hardly new but what is innovative is how Nissan’s engineers have managed to hide these buttons.
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Panels across the Ariya’s dashboard and center console are made from plastic and have a wood-grain like finish. When the EV is turned on, illuminated buttons hidden beneath this plastic light up and when pressed, provide occupants with haptic feedback. The dashboard buttons control the HVAC system while the touch buttons near the gear selector are used to select between the different drive modes.
In addition to providing users with haptic feedback when pushed, these buttons provide a distinctive sound “that would match the expectations of the driver” for a traditional button.
“We created a clean space by blending the haptic controls with the grain of the interior’s wood grain finish,” senior Nissan designer Hideki Tago describes. “We did this in a way that didn’t affect the performance of the controls, allowing us to achieve both functionality and an attractive appearance. By applying a wood grain pattern to the plastic panels with a hydro-printing process, we gave them a very realistic wood-like feeling. At the same time, this allowed transparent icons to come to life when illuminated.”
Customer deliveries of the Nissan Ariya will commence in the United States in 2022.
