Speed-Indicating Instrument for Motor Vehicle Provided with an Adaptive Cruise-Control System

A speed-indicating instrument for a motor vehicle provided with a cruise-control system, said instrument comprising:

• a dial provided with a window extending circumferentially along at least part of the periphery of the dial and also provided with a speed-indicating pointer co-operating with a graduated scale extending circumferentially along at least part of the periphery of the dial;
• and
• a device for displaying, in a position adjacent to said graduated scale an arc of light made up of two contiguous arcs of different colour, either continuous or dashed, substantially concentric with the dial, having an end in a position corresponding to the value on the graduated scale of the cruise speed set by means of the cruise-control system, and having the line of separation between said two arcs of a different colour set in a position corresponding to the current speed of the motor vehicle,
• said speed-indicating instrument being characterized in that the aforesaid device for displaying the arc of light comprises a first optical filter and a second optical filter set on top of the first optical filter, the two filters being backlighted, the second optical filter being controlled in angular position about the centre of the dial as a function of the value set of the cruise speed, and the first optical filter being controlled in angular position about the centre of the dial as a function of the current value of the speed of the motor vehicle,
• in that both of the filters have the shape of an annulus, with a radius and width that are substantially the same as one another, in that the second optical filter has two sub-areas areas which are one transmissive and the other opaque, these two sub-areas extending in opposite directions along the circumference of the optical filter, starting from a point of transition the angular position of said second optical filter being controlled in such a way that said point of transition between the two sub-areas is always in a position corresponding to the point of the graduated scale that indicates the value set of the cruise speed, and
• in that) the aforesaid first optical filter set below the second optical filter has two sub-areas of different colour and/or transmissivity extending in opposite directions starting from a point of transition, said first optical filter being controlled in position in such a way that the aforesaid point of transition between the two sub-areas of the first optical filter is always in a position corresponding to the point of the graduated scale that indicates the current speed of the vehicle.