Patent ID: 7603214

Claim:
An in-vehicle input unit, comprising: a head-up display which projects a hierarchical menu for operating a plurality of pieces of in-vehicle equipment onto a windshield in front of a driver's seat, and displays the hierarchical menu as a virtual image ahead of the windshield; a plurality of switches disposed in a steering wheel so that several switches adjoin and surround one central switch; and a changing switch which is disposed in the steering wheel and accepts a default instruction for displaying on the head-up display a default operation menu having default selection items for operating the in-vehicle equipment directly without using the hierarchical menu, wherein the head-up display displays selection items on the hierarchical menu as the virtual image so that the selection items correspond one to one to the plurality of switches disposed in the steering wheel; and if the changing switch accepts the default instruction, the head-up display displays the default selection items on the default operation menu as the virtual image so that the default selection items correspond one to one to the plurality of switches.