The Gold Wing was developed as a large luxury touring motorcycle. The styling design of the instrument cluster and control switches is therefore important in creating an enjoyable experience for the rider through their appearance and operation. In its first full model change in 17 years, the Gold Wing was updated with numerous advanced technologies. That brought significantly increased information displayed and rider controls. The design goal was set as an integrated human-machine interface (HMI). The integration is made among mutually interrelated information on the display and device operations. That enables the intuitive operation and information presented in the most natural way minimizing riders’ stress. For the instrument cluster of this particular vehicle, a beautiful appearance is also a crucial design factor. The design objects range the operation parts, the surface textures and the shapes. For those, further advanced designs were implemented aiming at the relevance to the current generation and luxurious feels. By doing that, we tried to make the vehicle worthy deserving the motorcycle of the highest class. These efforts resulted in achieving both the functionality and beautiful appearance at high level. The design contributed to the owners to have joy of riding while satisfying the pride of ownership of a globally recognized motorcycle. In addition, the design has helped the new Gold Wing has received excellent customers’ reviews.
Article of Honda R&D Technical Review Vol.31 No.2 (14 - 26)