At noon today, the official interior design of the Ideal L9 was officially announced, and a closer look revealed a wealth of information in the images. In this article, we will discuss this star father car in detail based on the official pictures.
L9 Official Information
Firstly, let’s take a look at the official images from Ideal:
A quick glance at the two images reveals the following information:
- The L9 has no instrument panel, instead the driver has a large HUD display;
- The central console has a dual screen, one for the driver and one for the passenger, and the car control screen has been removed;
- There is a flip-down entertainment screen on the roof;
- The back of the passenger seat has a small table board;
- The second row seats have electrically adjustable leg rests;
- The second row has a cool/warm storage box.
At the same time as the rendering was released today, Ideal also released a lot of information:
- 6 microphone voice + 3D ToF multimodal interaction
- 3 x 15.7 inch 3K OLED screen
- Dual 8155 chips
- In-car 24 G RAM + 256 G storage
- Dual 5G operator network
This round of official leaks is truly refreshing. In fact, there have been several waves of spy shots of the L9’s front seat interior on the Internet before today’s release of the Ideal official images. However, there wasn’t much information that could be seen under the heavy camouflage, and the quality of the pictures was also very poor. Looking back now, many rumors were just baseless speculation.
So having summarised the previous details, let’s move on to the pixel-level exploration of the L9 interior.
Front seat: Someone has finally made up for Tesla’s shortcomings
The Ideal L9 adopts a five-screen interactive design. Excluding the rear entertainment screen, the four screens in the front row are quite special, namely:
- 15.7-inch central console screen
- 15.7-inch passenger screen
And the less “screeny” ones:
- The main driver’s HUD
- The auxiliary driving interaction screen (the rumored “Touch Bar”)
It can be said that the main changes in the L9’s front row this time are due to these screens.
Instrument panel is gone, HUD is a must
What is unexpected is that the Ideal L9 has taken out the instrument panel directly, replacing it with a reasonably sized HUD.
The most famous automaker to have done this was Tesla with its Model 3 released in 2016. Tesla integrated instrument information into the central console screen, which gave the Model 3 an excellent driving view. Removing a component made it easier for left and right-hand drive cars to interchange parts, effectively reducing the overall cost of production, making it a win-win situation.One problem with driving the Model 3 is that some drivers find it inconvenient to access driving information while driving, as compared to looking at the instrument panel straight ahead. Looking at the center console requires a larger head movement.
Objectively speaking, the size of the center console screen and the display of driving information on Model 3/Y have been optimized and matched. Most users can get used to it after a period of time, and accept the center console as an instrument panel.
However, as the car model grows larger, the horizontal space in the front of the car also expands, and the angle of head movement needed to look at the center console increases. Therefore, the design of using the center console as the instrument panel is not suitable for larger cars. Tesla retained the instrument panel settings in the redesigned Model S/X, which validated this logic.
The solution has been proposed in the community of car owners: the instrument panel can go, but HUD must come along with it. Finally, after several years of this demand being voiced, the ideal L9 has put it into practice.
The HUD display in the official image is very rich in information, with the layout of left, center, and right three areas inherited from the instrument panel display logic of the ideal ONE. The official image shows:
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Left: Navigation information
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Center: Visual information of ADAS
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Right: Driving status information
The official information does not give the size of the HUD, but from the richness of the information displayed and the space occupied by the projector, the size of the HUD may be close to that of the current Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Based on previous HUD experiences, the screen may sway up and down while driving, and excessive HUD information can have a dizzying effect on driving. The direct projection of visualization onto the HUD also remains doubtful about its specific effects. In addition, the brightness of the HUD has a significant impact on the experience under the scorching sun, a challenge that the L9 HUD may have to face.
Steering Wheel Touch Bar
The shape of the L9 steering wheel is unusual, with no recognizable ideal logo in the center, but rather a small screen above. This screen is informally called the “steering wheel Touch Bar,” or more formally the “safe driving interactive screen.”
After the original car control screen was canceled in the ideal L9, we guess that this small screen combines some related car control functions. Commonly used functions can be independently located here, enabling one-touch control, and no longer need drivers’ heads to be down like the original car control screen.According to the previously exposed hypothetical plan, there will probably be shortcut touch buttons for frequently used functions here, such as auxiliary driving switch, charging control and 360-degree panoramic view.
One issue that comes to mind when looking at the picture is that the screen is fixed on the steering wheel, and the hand must move to the central area of the steering wheel to operate it. This operation method also requires one hand to leave the steering wheel, and the actual operating experience needs to be verified. In terms of aesthetics, currently, there is a large area in the middle of the steering wheel with no markings, which looks abrupt visually, and some improvements are hoped for before delivery.
Twin Screens without Instrument Panel
The two floating screens of the IDEAL L9 are 15.7-inch OLED screens of vehicle standard, with a resolution of 3K as IDEAL officially revealed. The expected actual display resolution is 2,560 x 1,600.
OLED screens have a self-luminous characteristic, and do not require full backlight like LCD screens during display, so the pixels in the screen do not emit light in a pure black background. The light leakage issue of the black background on LCD screens is greatly improved on OLED screens. Also, the wide color gamut characteristic of OLED screens will also bring improvements to the display effect. This is also why models such as Mercedes-Benz S-Class and NIO ET7 have adopted OLED screens.
Compared with the IDEAL ONE, the UI design of the L9 screen becomes flatter and visually more concise and intuitive. The upper left area of the center console and the visual area can clearly see that they have borrowed a lot from the display logic of Tesla’s center console. It must be said that Tesla’s interaction in this regard is really well done, and the differentiated solutions that other manufacturers in the industry have intentionally made in recent years are not effective enough, and there will surely be more imitators in the future.
The vehicle control screen on the IDEAL ONE is eliminated on the L9. The functions of vehicle control, air conditioning, multimedia control, and seat ventilation settings are integrated in the Dock bar at the bottom of the center console screen.
The top status bar is divided into left and right areas. By enlarging the range information in the upper left corner, it can be seen that the pure electric range of the IDEAL L9 is 200 km, the fuel range is 1,000 km, and the CLTC comprehensive range is 1,200 km. The upper right corner displays 5G signal, time, and temperature information. It should be pointed out that although the pure electric range of the L9 has reached 200 km this time, the displayed condition has switched to CLTC, so the actual increase in range compared to the 21 IDEAL ONE may not be significant.
According to official news, the IDEAL L9 intelligent cockpit is equipped with two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips as standard, combined with a computing platform composed of 24 GB of RAM and 256 GB of high-speed storage, which supports the switching of dual 5G operators, compared to the 820A hardware level on the IDEAL ONE, the upgrade is huge.
For the IDEAL car cockpit team, I think they should have this kind of feeling:
A small detail on the copilot screen is the dual display of the L9, with the edge of the screen rounded, which is a gospel for people with OCD.
Looking down, there are two wireless charging pads set under the central control screen of the IDEAL L9, allowing both drivers and copilots to charge their phones at the same time. It can also be inferred from the disappearing gear lever that the shift method has become a “fly-by-wire” type, and the empty space in the middle is now designed with two cup holders in the front and back, as well as a large central console.
Other details
Although the appearance of the IDEAL L9 has not been officially disclosed, some exterior design details can be seen from the interior pictures released today.
Firstly, from the reflection of the rear-view mirror in the interior photo, we can see very clearly that the door handles of the IDEAL L9 are designed to be hidden.
Through the vehicle model of the augmented reality driving assistance visualization interface shown on the central console screen, we can faintly see the color design of the floating roof of the IDEAL L9.
And we can see three black protrusions on the front of the roof, arranged in a triangle. The middle black protrusion is slightly larger than the two sides.
Based on the information we have learned before, the ideal L9 may use the Hesai AT 128 long-distance hybrid solid-state lidar and two front 800-megapixel cameras. And from the spy photos previously exposed, the “forehead” of the L9 disguised test car has a significant bulge.
Regarding the information interpretation of the front row, that’s all for now. Now let’s move on to the back row.
Back Row: The Family Car of the 2.0 Era
Entertainment Screen, Now Also in the Back Row
Let’s continue to talk about the back row of the L9, and start with the screen. According to the official introduction of the ideal, the second row adopts a 15.7-inch 3K resolution OLED screen, which is the same as the front row. Therefore, the basic quality of the screen will not be poor.
One noteworthy feature of this screen on the L9 is the way it is arranged: it is mounted on the roof and folded open and closed similarly to a notebook. Consequently, we can draw two conclusions quickly:
- The screen can be adjusted according to the height of the seats and passengers.
- The screen can be retracted into the top liner of the vehicle when not in use.
In my opinion, the ideal has given systematic consideration to the function of this screen on the L9. Since we are talking about the back row screen, I will also touch on the most famous back row screen on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
First, let’s talk about the difference between two screens and one screen.
Mercedes-Benz’s idea is that all the people in the back row are big bosses, so the back row screen is both a vehicle information display for the back row passengers and an entertainment screen. As an executive-level car, each person in the back row must have their own screen. To facilitate touch operation, the screens are mounted directly on the back seats.
This layout does give people a very direct sense of “high-end” when it comes to the overall experience, and passengers who enter the back seat for the first time will almost certainly be attracted to this configuration.
However, after experiencing it, some problems with the back row screen layout of the S-Class become apparent:
- The position and distance adjustment of the screen are associated with the front seat, making it inconvenient to adjust.
- When the screen is not in use, it has a strong presence and does not match the overall interior atmosphere of the car.
- The screen will have some impact on the movements of the passengers in the back row when the front seats are leaned back.Due to the comprehensive experience of the car infotainment system, both screens are not prominent enough in terms of “Entertainment” and “Control”.
The screen located on the second row of Ideal L9 has a more specialized purpose: it is the “entertainment display screen” for second and third-row passengers.
Yes, I mentioned the third row here. Because the screen is top-mounted in the center of the car and the second row has independent seats, it can be inferred that the third-row passengers of L9 can also see the screen through the gap of the second row.
In addition, since this screen is focused on entertainment and does not require touch interaction, it is placed in a comfortable viewing position farther from the passengers in Ideal L9. The design of the folding laptop makes it more convenient to adjust the angle without affecting the front-row passengers. The streaming media content on this screen is likely to be similar to that on the front passenger screen, supporting several mainstream video platforms in China.
As we speculated earlier, this screen has very likely abandoned touch interaction, so we assume that the interaction logic for this screen will be closer to TV and will be controlled by a remote or gestures.
But that’s not all, with the brightness of the image adjusted, it can be seen that there is a strip-shaped sensor area in front of the rear-screen.
Based on the size and area of this sensor, it is likely not only used as a remote signal receiver, but also a 3D ToF sensor as mentioned in Ideal’s official statement:
“The car is equipped with six microphones and 3D ToF sensors, which use Ideal’s self-developed multi-modal 3D space interaction technology based on deep learning.”
Therefore, we can boldly guess that this is the position of the 3D ToF sensor. As for what new interaction will be brought by this type of sensor to the rear seat of L9, we can leave it to everyone’s imagination. Ideal has always pursued to fully utilize the computing power of the car, and the consideration of using two 8155 chips in L9 may be related to this.And the most interesting detail is the “VR” label next to the Type-C port in the second row of L9, suggesting that it might support VR content output. If this function does exist, everything seems to make sense.
Since it’s a family car, how can it not have a refrigerator?
Another highlight of the L9’s second row is the versatile central armrest area, as shown in the rendering with two baby bottles, perfectly embodying the car’s positioning as a family-oriented vehicle. Upon closer inspection of the touchpad, one can see that it is, in fact, a refrigerator.
To be more precise, it’s not just a refrigerator, since it can both cool and heat, so it would be more appropriate to call it a “cold and warm box”.
Compared to a typical refrigerator, this “cold and warm box” has much broader applications, including heating, cooling, and insulation for small items throughout the year. However, there are still several questions about this function:
- How powerful is its cooling and heating capability?
- How large is its capacity in practice? Can it hold a 1.5L bottle of water?
- What is the noise level during operation and the logic once the car is turned off?
Although this feature is highly anticipated, if the mass-produced version falls short in terms of power, in-car noise, or capacity, its experience may be greatly compromised.
Above the “cold and warm box” is the rear air conditioning control area, where the L9 has abandoned the rotary design of the Ideal ONE and instead uses a neat row of bi-directional buttons. There are also two Type-C USB charging ports in this area, although official specifications have not been released, it is expected that both C ports will support high-power fast charging for mobile phones.
In addition, this time, the “cold and warm box” on the L9 is located in the fixed position of the retractable cup holder on the Ideal ONE, so the cup holder has been moved to the top of the rear control area. Given that this position is immediately below the “cold and warm box”, the cup holder may also have temperature controls for heating, cooling, and insulation.
Zooming in on the rear control area, there is a faint white translucent area on the far-left seat button, which is likely the display for the second mode of seat ventilation.
### Leg support and table board also added
Let’s start by talking about the most noticeable part. This time, L9 has added a foldable table board behind the front passenger seat backrest, which looks similar to the one used on high-speed trains. The size is relatively small and can be used for accommodating small items and working on laptops.
As you can see, there is only one table board this time, and it is not equipped behind the driver’s seat. This design is somewhat confusing, and it may be because the second-row child usually sits on the left, so there may be some safety concerns about the table board.
Next, you can also see that L9 continues the boss key on the ideal ONE, and adds an electric leg support to the second row, and there is a storage slot specifically designed for placing mobile phones inside the seat, basically addressing the key issues with the second row that were previously criticized by Ideal car owners.
Semi-released third-row
Finally, you can see some information about the third row in the high-brightness images. Here we have also circled two details.
The circle at the top is the third-row air conditioning vent. After this, there is also a third-row voice microphone that is not displayed in the picture. Ideal officially announced on Weibo today that the entire car will adopt 6-microphone voice interaction, which means that the third row can now also call “Ideal Companion”.
However, we believe that a feature that may be implemented after adding a microphone to the third row is the “car internal amplifier” that has appeared in modern Kia models: in larger models, communication between the first and third rows, especially when there are elderly people and children, can be difficult. If the sound collected by the microphone can be amplified through the audio system in different regions of the car, the sound from the first and third rows can be made clearer, making in-car conversations more relaxed.
Of course, the above is just speculation, and whether this function will be implemented or not will depend on the actual release of the car.The position of the second row in the rendering chart is obviously set very far back. It is difficult to determine how much the actual space of the third row has been improved compared to the ideal ONE. We will analyze it further when more clear official materials are available after the L9 is released.
The remaining part is the circled part in the middle. As we cannot see the whole picture, there is not much information available, but based on our memory of the button layout for large-size models we have driven in the past, we speculate that it may be the electric folding button for the third row seats. The reason why it is arranged so far forward should be for the scenario of operating the third row seats inside the vehicle compartment.
Conclusion
Above is our complete interpretation of the ideal L9 interior official image. Next, Ideal will continue to release more information, and we will continue to provide more content for interpreting this vehicle. You are welcome to join our community to discuss.
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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.