Samsung's self-driving display should be an actual sim rig

We've seen some pretty impressive gaming screens at CES this year. LG introduced a huge 97-inch 4K 120Hz OLED TV with the Signature OLED M that's sure to impress, if you can afford it. Samsung brought the head with the Odyssey Neo G9 UHD ultrawide panel, which looks perfect for PC gaming. But there were impressive screens at CES other than those built for gaming, even if they really should be for games—like Samsung's digital cockpit.

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This display from Samsung is actually intended for autonomous-driving vehicles, and iterates on an idea the company has been showing off for a few years now. In its current form, the digital cockpit is a large screen that combines a 34-inch display with a 15.6-inch to fit inside a car below the front window.

Samsung says the display can be used for entertainment in self-driving vehicles, which still sounds terrifying to me. Otherwise it acts as a HUD with helpful information as you drive. There's the obvious like audio controls and directions, but it can also communicate with compatible devices and potentially even control things in your home. The company also says the 700R curvature screen allows the driver to focus on the road while doing all this, which again, sounds terrifying.

One day in the future this kind of in-car display may well be used for gaming, but for now games appear to be sticking to the back seats. The laws on autonomous-driving vehicles are still being developed in most places, and the technology isn't super trustworthy yet. I hope we can keep the gaming out of driver's seats, at least until that's cleared up.

What I do want Samsung to bring over to gaming is this amazing looking demo cockpit the company came up with for this concept. This dummy car setup has a massive three-panel display in front of it acting as the front window of the car, showing you the road and all those things you shouldn't run into.

Samsung digital cockpit — (Image credit: Samsung)

In front of the screen is a two-seater cockpit display with slick white and grey aesthetics. The driver's seat has a control yoke and beyond that is the new cockpit display, built into what would be the dashboard of the car. There's a nice mid section, presumably for snacks and drinks, and a seat next door for whoever you've convinced to sit and watch your adventure.

It's probably not as good as one of the best PC racing wheels like the fantastic Fanatec GT DD Pro and likely costs a fair packet more, but gosh that setup would look nice if I ever had the space to accommodate it. Thanks for the Simspiration, Samsung.

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here. No, she’s not kidding.