Putting the touch into touchscreens (Part 2)

As discussed in  Part 1 (Putting the touch into touchscreens), touchscreens need to offer more feedback than a smooth, glassy touch in order t obe a safe addition to the in-car experience.  And a few clever people have developed solutions that start to do just that:

A rotary dial embedded in a touchscreen

A solution touted by QNX, is to plonk a multi-function rotary dial into the middle of a screen.  As the user navigates through the interfaces, the dial performs different functions and the content around the dial changes.  So, frequently used functions like changing volume or temperature can be achieved without having to take eyes off the road - in a manner that mimics more conventional centre consoles.

And as the surrounding touch screen can be operated independently for more compelx tasks such as changing destination, the user gets the best of both worlds.  Embedding the dial in the screen bridges the gap between interface and display, unlike iDrive-type solutions which positions the two physically apart, placing a more significant cognitive load on the user.

A touchscreen with dynamic switchgear and floating dial

This is a very clever solution by a very clever industrial and interaction designer Miha Feuš.  Using magic (probably) he takes the QNX example above a step further by enabling the rotary dial to move to a meaningful place on the touchscreen in response to an action.  Furthermore, the function of the dial adjusts to be relevant to its new context.  (View a full demo)

The interface is further enhanced with switchgear at the base of the screen.  These switches can behave in a number of ways, once again based on the interface selected.  It feels a little too overelaborate for practical use, but it functions as a fantastic proof of concept.

Have you seen any other examples of touchscreens being enhanced by haptic feedback?