Driving the 2010 Honda Insight Will be like a Video Game, Sort of

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, GreenTech

the new Honda Insight will include a Nintendo-esque dashboard array that gives drivers real time, color-coded feedback as to how green their driving style is. There’s even a prize for hypermiling drivers. No joke, if a driver wishes to test their fuel sipping skills, they can toggle one of their displays to show a graphical representation of their conservation feats:

“Starting with empty graphical “stalks” shown on the multi-information display, efficient drivers can earn “leaves” that fill out the five branches. Over the car’s lifetime, a thrifty pilot can accumulate a second tier of leaves, then a flower on each branch. When a driver grows all five plants, the screen displays a trophy.”

It’s a little like Wii Hypermiling, except you don’t get any extra lives and you can’t play while pounding beers on the couch — but you do save some cash. The back-lighting for the speedometer consists of a semi-circle that turns green when your driving at maximum efficiency, bluish-green when your doing just OK, and blue when your lead foot is burning unnecessary gas. While this idea is totally blowing my mind, I can definitely see it being counter-productive in some cases. As with all gaming systems, there will inevitably be those few who get addicted and drive for thousands and thousands of unnecessary miles just to win the trophy.

Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight