Car Tech Blog
Car Tech Blog - 2021 Land Rover Defender 110 SE
The ultimate test of any new Infotainment system or Driver’s Information Screen, is how intuitive it is, and what it has to offer. Land Rover’s new PIVI system hits all the marks in these two areas. Developed for the newly redesigned 2020 Land Rover and the 2020 Jaguar , this system is easy to use, even for someone not familiar with Land Rover, and offers up plenty of content in both screens.
To view our in-depth video on the Driver's Information Screen and the Infotainment System click HERE
The Driver’s Information Screen
The screen is an all digital screen in this trim level and is 12.3 inch’s in size. The graphics were superb and very easy to see. I also appreciated the sort of late 70’s early 80’s gauge needles on the RPM and Speedometer gauges. There was a 3D depth to those gauges and the numbers etc were very easy to see. The digital dash was configurable in up to 3 different ways, and there was the tradition digital area that contains all the information screens for the Land Rover. I really liked it that you could put the navigation screen into the Driver’s Information Screen, and full size too. The digital information screen (with all the different menus) was very “normal” in a good sense. What I mean is that it operated the same way most digital screens do where with one press of the button the menus popped up on the top and then you used arrows to scroll through the various menu’s, and if you wanted to see what was in a particular menu, you could press the down arrow to see it. The left arrow worked as a “back” button, which made absolute sense.
My only quibble with the system, and it’s a small quibble, is that Land Rover uses its own unique symbols for many of the buttons on the steering wheel. On the left there is a button with a “0” on it and another with a “Diamond” on it.
The “0” button functioned as an “Enter” or “OK” button and the “Diamond” button was a “Favorites” button. I wish they had made the one with a “0” on it with an “OK” or “Enter” and the one with the “Diamond” on it have “Fav” on it instead. I think that would have made it more user friendly, but that said, I figured it out quickly and had no problem using it after that.
One the right side of the steering wheel you have the cruise control buttons, the LKA (Lane Keeping Assist) and the heated steering wheel button. There were a couple of interesting things about the cruise control that are worth mentioning. First off, for a vehicle at this price level, I was surprised to discover that it did not have adaptive cruise control. That is available, but was not on this particular model. The second unique thing (in terms of most SUV’s) is that it did have a speed limiter cruise control option. Using it was truly an interesting experience and I can see it being very useful off-road. Basically you use it to limit how fast the truck will go. I set it at 12 mph and no matter how far I pushed the gas pedal, it would not go over 12 mph. Pretty cool feature!
The other unique and unexpected thing was that the tilt and telescope knob was on the right side of the steering wheel not the left as in every other car I’ve been in.
HUD
The HUD system was a large display and had the ability to display a lot of information, including seed, cruise control, LKA, Navigation Turn-by-Turn and Media. The controls for the HUD are all in the Driver’s Information Screen and worked as expected. Overall its a great system but this was another area I am hoping they will improve on in a future OTA update. Specifically I would like to see added, the ability to Rotate the HUD display left to right. Currently you can only adjust height and brightness and content. I just think that depending on how a driver sits, that screen may appear crooked instead of straight. The other area I would hope for improvement in would be in how much it allows you to adjust the height particularly toward the engine hood, as it is it appears to stand about a foot off the hood currently and personally I like mine a little lower than the HUD allows.
The Infotainment System
This system is called PIVI and the version we had in this vehicle was called the PIVI PRO which came with a few more bells and whistles. The screen itself measures 10 inches and is much wider than it is tall. It had an 11 speaker (including subwoofer), 400 Watt Meridian Sound system that included AM, FM, and HD Radio along with Sirius XM, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, bluetooth and Navigation.
What makes this system so outstanding was a combination of factors. First, it was intuitive to use, everything functions as you think it should. Second, It’s response time is right up there with the new Sync 4 from Ford, except that it booted up quicker because…well, it’s always on and even has its own dedicated backup battery. Another cool fact was that you can update the system wirelessly with Over the Air Updates (OTA) …but get this, from anywhere in the world!
The next outstanding factor is how it was designed. It uses 2 processors, not one like most systems. They are Qualcomm 820AM SnapDragon processors. One processor is dedicated to more logic based functions, like updates, keeping the car connected to the best cell signal possible etc while the other processor runs the apps in the system along with streaming, more the creative side of the system.
This was a well designed system and functioned just like you would think it should. Onscreen buttons were easy to understand, and Land Rover took care to make sure that any button that performs a similar function, all had the same symbol on them, making it very easy for a first time user to figure out what information would present itself if the button were pushed, no matter what app they were in.
One of my favorite things about this system was how you could configure the screen to place all the apps in a vertical view on the home screen, or you could have the traditional small app squares that show up on most infotainment Home screens. I left ours in the vertical position. What is so awesome about this, is that it just fits the screen better than the small squares, and it was easy to see especially given the short height of the screen.
One of the things I also liked about it is its use of “Live Apps” which is just now becoming a “thing” in cars, in fact, this is the first vehicle I have seen it in. So in the Land Rover, you can get Weather, Your Google or Microsoft Calendar, and Airline Info in live updates. Why do this, well, once you sign up for your account (1 year free subscription with purchase) it links all those items together so…if you are going on a plane, and you are driving to the airport but unknown to you the flight has been delayed or cancelled due to weather, the Land Rover will know, and it will alert you with the latest flight info. Not only can it do that but it will also determine (using the built in Navigation”) if you have enough fuel to get where your going and if you don’t it will tell you then list several gas stations along your route and place them on the screen for you to click on. It will then reroute you to that gas station, and after you fill up, will resume Navigation to your original destination. In terms of the calendar, it will notify of upcoming events and if you click on any such event, it will list phone numbers etc for anyone you have placed in the calendar notes along with a call button, allowing to easily reach out in the event you are running late, or just conduction business while driving. So some very practical and useful stuff with Live Apps and I think we are going to see a huge move in this direction down the road.
Speaking of Navigation, you can use the “InControl” app to enter a destination on your phone and when you enter the car and start it up, it will send that address to your Navigation system and it will take over until you reach your destination. But it doesn’t stop there. Once you reach your destination and get out and start walking, the “InControl” app on your phone resumes control and shows you the way to the front door.
Using the navigation, as you approach your destination, it will begin to look for parking areas and will alert you on the screen to your choices. Currently in England only, you can actually pay for your parking right from the infotainment system. Hopefully we will see that here in the US shortly. In short a great Navigation system.
One more note on the navigation system. With purchase of the vehicle, you get 3 years subscription for the Navigation Pro like our system was that includes limitless online music streaming use of Live Apps, and it has a 4G connection.
This particular Land Rover had a digital rearview mirror with the ability to adjust several parameters including brightness and angle. I love these mirrors, they feed off a separate camera mounted to the top of the vehicle. This is great when you are packed to the brim, or you have very tall people in the second row.
The 360° camera system was second to none. The screen was well used for its size, and the clarity of the pictures was great. The unique thing about this system, in addition to having the “trail cam” or front camera on while your driving, was that in the 360° picture, there were 3 camera icons on each side plus one the front and one in the back of the car, and if you clicked on one of then, it would show you a picture of your car as if you were on the outside looking in, and you could do this from 8 angles. This is a whole step different from current 360° camera systems that are always looking from the inside out and as a result of this different POV (Point-of-View) there are many things you can see much more clearly (like how close am I to the curb, or edge of the cliff!). Tremendous system.
Overall this is a truly great system, both the Digital Driver’s Information Screen and the PIVI Infotainment system, a rare feat for brand new systems. Well done Land Rover, you hit the mark, then surpassed it!
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