While all the fanboys were freaking out over a font change in iOS 7 on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple patent that could dramatically reshape how the inside of your car looks (and works) in a few years. Crediting Canadian Tim Pryor as inventor, the patent takes on the sweeping problem of a driver safely controlling onboard technology while also operating the vehicle, and draws on patents dating back to 1971. That doesn’t mean that Apple’s proposed onboard computer isn’t unbelievably futuristic though. The patent, called “Programmable tactile touch screen displays and man-machine interfaces for improved vehicle instrumentation and telematics”— or “Digital Dash,” for short—incorporates everything from laser pointer inputs to cameras that track the driver’s head movements to provide innovative takes on one of the oldest problems of the automobile interface.
