Graphic toolkit for adaptive layouts in in-vehicle user interfaces

Currently, the processes used by many car manufacturers to adapt information from the head unit to the intended display platform are outdated and extremely cumbersome. The individual graphic elements are not designed for use in different contexts and many steps must be done manually to achieve a proper in-vehicle information visualization. Additionally, the amount of data that must be maintained is extremely large, resulting in strong restrictions in the variability of appearance and displayed information. An additional challenge is that multiple car brands belong to the same main company with each brand having a separate identity. Therefore, the graphical user interface (GUI) elements require resizing and recomposition which then reflects the brand's heterogeneous characteristics. To overcome these drawbacks we present a software solution to create and edit flexible, in-vehicle GUIs through reusable elements or widgets that adjust their size and composition to their environmental context in a dynamic and automatic manner. We have examined the quality of the tool through validation rules for each step and proposed calculation algorithms as a possible approach for a largely automated evaluation.