What are little digital instrument clusters made of?

Well, it's not snips and snails, and puppy-dog tails. It's more like steppers and LCDs, and integrated graphic controllers. And of course the right software.

Fujitsu is carving out their territory in digital instrument cluster space by offering a highly tailored line of processors: Jade, Ruby, Emerald, Indigo, and Sapphire. The QNX Neutrino RTOS runs on the SOC versions of these chips to enable beautiful, smooth, graphics displays.

Compare the Range Rover's cluster (pictured here) with the Ford Fusion's in the Fujitsu booth (#817) and you'll see for yourself why software makes a big difference.

Just how important is the software? Fujitsu is showing two actual production instrument clusters in their Convergence booth (#817). One is rather jerky and the other is smooth and fluid. Jerky and hesitating? The competition's cluster, of course! Smooth as silk? You guessed it. The QNX-based cluster on the Range Rover. And that's in addition to the latter cluster driving a far bigger display with more impressive graphics. Same chip.

I guess the right software is what little digital instrument clusters are made of.