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Transportation Displays

Buttons Beat Touchscreens In Cars, and Now There's Data To Prove It (arstechnica.com) 142

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: [Swedish car publication Vi Bilagare] tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments. The old Volvo was the clear winner. "The four tasks is handled within ten seconds flat, during which the car is driven 306 meters at 110 km/h [1,004 feet at 68 mph]," VB found. Most of the other cars required twice as long, or more, to complete the same tasks. VB says that "one important aspect of this test is that the drivers had time to get to know the cars and their infotainment systems before the test started." VB lays the blame for the shift from buttons to screens with designers who "want a 'clean' interior with minimal switchgear."

Even with touchscreens, though, we can see in the spread of scores VB gave to different all-touch cars that design matters. You'll find almost no buttons in a Tesla Model 3, and we called out the lack of buttons in the Subaru Outback in our review, but both performed quite well in VB's tests. And VW's use of capacitive touch (versus physical) for the controls on the center stack appears to be exactly the wrong decision in terms of usability, with the ID.3 right at the bottom of the pack in VB's scores. I'm not surprised that the BMW iX scored well; although it has a touchscreen, you're not obligated to use it. BMW's rotary iDrive controller falls naturally to hand, and there are permanent controls arrayed around it under a sliver of wood that both looks and feels interesting. It's an early implementation of what the company calls shy tech, and it's a design trend I am very much looking forward to seeing evolve in the future.

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Buttons Beat Touchscreens In Cars, and Now There's Data To Prove It

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  • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:04PM (#62802007)

    Until they can make a touchscreen where I can feel where the buttons are, physical buttons will reign supreme. Anything that requires me to take my eyes off the road to use is simply and plainly useless garbage in a car environment.

    • by sinij ( 911942 )
      Other than using CLI while driving, I couldn't think of a worse way to make a UI for car controls than a context-varying touch controls on a screen without haptic feedback. Even smartphones vibrate when you perform key UI commands via touch and they are designed to be interacted while fully focused on.
      • by sinij ( 911942 )
        sudo umount -f /hvac/heater
        sudo mount /hvac/aircon
      • Haptic feedback in current form is useless. One still can't feel the button BEFORE pressing.

        Touchable buttons are not essential if they can keep their positions constant. But those designers just like to move things everywhere all the time.

        • by sinij ( 911942 )
          It is not entirely useless, but I agree that it does nothing for finding controls by touch.

          Actually, my car has round temperature dials with touchscreen display embedded into dial. This works great - not only I can operate by touch by using dial, but they also display context-specific (e.g., hvac temp, seat heating or cooling setting) relevant information.
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @05:05AM (#62802983) Homepage Journal

        I can. Take a look at Tesla's touch controls. On their yoke.

        They aren't touch screens, they are touch buttons embedded in the wheel. Except it's not a wheel, it's an aircraft style flight yoke. The buttons light up when you press them, which is handy because that's the exact moment you have them covered with your finger. Being on the wheel, sorry yoke, they are very easy to brush against accidentally. When trying to deliberately activate them it's easy to press the wrong one by accident, and you have to look at them to see where they are because the surface they are under is completely smooth.

        Combine that with a yoke you can't grab at arbitrary angles, so again you need to look, and touch screen controls to select forward and reverse gear, so you have to look.

    • I like my new car, but I don't like the touchscreen. It's fine for display but otherwise it's annoying. There's a lot of things controllable from the steering wheel, but those times when I can't control it that way is annoying. I've learned to put my thumb on the corner to steady my finger, otherwise even in a smooth ride my finger will move just enough to screw up. I can push a button for automatic A/C, but it goes on full blast, then I can use something on the steering wheel, with a lot of presses to

    • Beat me to it. With physical controls I just flap my hand around where the control is until I've changed whatever-it-is to what I want, with virtually zero distraction from driving. With a touchscreen I'm a danger to anyone else on the road as I take my eyes and concentration off driving while I beep-boop my way through five levels of menu to adjust the setting I want.
      • With a touchscreen I'm a danger to anyone else on the road as I take my eyes and concentration off driving while I beep-boop my way through five levels of menu to adjust the setting I want.

        Try getting a car with autopilot.

    • Would haptics work?

    • Anything that requires me to take my eyes off the road to use is simply and plainly useless garbage in a car environment.

      Imagine if there was a car that could drive itself for a little while while you do it.

  • by sinij ( 911942 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:04PM (#62802009)
    While it might look good in the photos or on the showroom floor, when you actually have to live with button-less auto controls you quickly realize that it is not functional.
    • whatever sells cars is the right thing to do

      • >whatever sells cars is the right thing to do

        Well, the ridiculous iPad bolted to the dashboard certainly didn't sell me a Tesla when I had to get a new car recently. I otherwise like the technology and the range, but the horrible controls took all Tesla models out of the race. I ended up with an electric car from a more traditional car maker, and find myself very happy with the choice.

        I mean, the car UI has been refined and improved over more than 100 years - by now it's pretty well known what works and

        • This also means it's relatively easy to switch between cars, even made by different companies.

          I rent a lot of cars and there's plenty of cars that get it horribly wrong. Volkswagen springs to mind for just having everything in the wrong place.

          The fact that Tesla designers have decided to ignore all this huge trove of learning and experience and come up with the horrible Tesla design is an amazing example of hubris.

          I'm not keen on all the kiddie-script toys they add (who are they trying to impress, 10-year olds?) but Tesla's plan is that the car will drive itself while you get the settings just right.

          Big screens are a huge win for things like navigation. You do get something in return.

        • I agree with you that these infotainment and electronic dashboards are terrible. But gadgets sell, maybe not to you and me, but I've worked on some of the gadgets with partner companies and watched those models become their top sellers. Flashy tech really does influence a lot of car buyers.

          I'm at the other end. I'm looking at the few remaining truck models that offer bench seats because being able to take a nap in my truck is more of a value-add than animated themed speedometer or a radio that I have to car

        • Itâ(TM)s about price per unit, nothing more. Touch screens are cheap, wiring a dash for buttons and twist dials is expensive.

  • Can't SaaS buttons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bruce_the_moose ( 621423 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:14PM (#62802023)

    Not to mention it makes is far harder for the car manufacturer to charge you rent on your car's features if they are mechanical knobs and buttons

    • > Not to mention it makes is far harder for the car manufacturer to charge you rent on your car's features if they are mechanical knobs and buttons

      Right. And OnlyFansAuto will be along soon as an OTT app so people can stream driving with their boobs hanging out and GM can take 30%.

      Nobody ever said the touchscreens were to benefit the driver.

    • Yes you can. You bring the outputs from the knobs and buttons back to a computer, which watches them and adjusts outputs.

      We've been doing this in industrial applications, bringing buttons back to PLCs, for many years.
    • by hipp5 ( 1635263 )
      None of the buttons in cars are analogue. They are all digital and feed into central control modules. Having a physical button does not prevent the manufacturer from doing things like charing a subscription fee for seat heaters.
  • Should compare it to voice command
    • Mine has that but I've rarely used it. You need to practice on it before it's needed, otherwise it won't work how you expect it. I tried it once when I missed a turnoff, since I could turn it on from the steering wheel. But the navigation was backwards, I couldn't just give a normal address but had to work backwards. "South Virginia... Pittsville... Main Street... 123... ".

    • I'd give the current version of voice command 6 out of 10. It is not great for nav if you are trying to set up multiple waypoints, and it needs more authority over the climate control, at the moment it just allows you to set the temp.

      But changing radio stations, and finding one-off addresses work well.

    • Re:Voice command? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BeaverCleaver ( 673164 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @09:47PM (#62802407)

      Voice controls in cars are terrible. The system has to deal with the ambient road noise of a moving vehicle, other passengers in the car (filtering out other voices is really tricky because the other voices are in the same frequency spectrum as the voice the car DOES want to listen to) and even more audio interference from the car's own stereo.

      Sure, the problem could be solved, with a big enough microphone array and enough DSP. Maybe it would need an always-on data connection to train the car to your speech. Yeah, more data spewed out by the car, to be made obsolete like OnStar when the next generation of cellphone data protocol comes out. Maybe it should listen to your conversation, so the manufacturer can sell advertising. In the Bible Belt it could make sure you're not talking about driving to an abortion clinic!

      Then it would have to work with different languages (car models are global now) and different accents. (I already have to put on an "american" accent when navigating certain voice menus on the phone. This is not what I want to do while trying to concentrate on driving)

      What about vocabulary? "Windscreen" or "windshield?" "Footpath" or "sidewalk?" "Turn signal" or "blinker?" "Handbrake" or "emergency brake" "Gas" or "petrol?"

      Let's say you solve all the problems above... What happens when your friend borrows the car and they have to train it from scratch?

      No thank you. Give me proper buttons, knobs and switches, clearly labelled with industry-standard pictogram symbols. Simple.

  • No shit (Score:5, Informative)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:17PM (#62802035)

    Who would have thought that an easy to feel button which can be accessed without looking would be more user friendly than some random location on a flat screen where the person has to hope they hit the right spot when not looking?

    The mind wobbles.

    • Have you ever stopped to imagine how many buttons you'd need for all the functions of a modern car?

      What else do you get in return? Oh, yes, a massively good navigation screen instead of trying to find a place to prop your phone. 360 degree view of the car while you're parking it. etc., etc.

      • Re:No shit (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @12:05AM (#62802621) Homepage
        I don't have to imagine, I have a car with adaptive cruise, auto headlights, auto wipers, auto HVAC, auto defrost, park assist, etc. That is pretty modern. Every single one of these features can still be overridden or controlled by a hard button. No one is asking to delete the touch screen, just don't make the driver depend on it for common use and safety functions. Even the auto park assist can be controlled by just one hard button and the turn signal stalk.
      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        That's why you have both, touchscreen and buttons/knobs for the most common controls.
        From the fine summary,

        I'm not surprised that the BMW iX scored well; although it has a touchscreen, you're not obligated to use it. BMW's rotary iDrive controller falls naturally to hand, and there are permanent controls arrayed around it under a sliver of wood that both looks and feels interesting. It's an early implementation of what the company calls shy tech, and it's a design trend I am very much looking forward to see

      • A button for every feature in the car would be terrible, simply due to the clutter. The less often a feature is accessed the more likely it is to be a good fit for being on a screen. The complaint here is that designers have moved all features to screens even ones that are used at least once every time the vehicle is used.

        A good example is the crutchfield.com site, which is well known for being good at identifying what aftermarket audio fits what vehicle. One of the questions their wizard will ask in the
    • Re:No shit (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MDMurphy ( 208495 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @11:49PM (#62802605)
      Aircraft designers knew this decades ago. Not infected with the Apple virus, the idea that appearance trumps functionality, there would be round, square, or even triangular switches. Muscle memory had you reach for a switch or button without looking. You could tell by touch if it was the correct switch. Without looking you knew when your hand was on it and whether you were on the correct one.

      I've spent the last 15+ years working on electronics and displays in tractors. That's a much more rough riding environment than cars or aircraft. If you're bouncing around you'd prefer to put your finger on a button and then press it when the time is right. You can't do that with a touch screen. Instead, you bounce around, hitting the wrong spot on the screen and activating something other than what was intended.
      It all went to shit when iPhones and iPads with no physical buttons came out, The marketing clowns thought that meant that every control device had to have no buttons
  • I can change the HVAC, turn up or change the station on the radio. Try that with a touch screen.

  • I could've just said "Duh!" and this would've been the exact same answer. But statisticians need their fund money for "research".

    • Re:Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)

      by xalqor ( 6762950 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @01:09AM (#62802707)
      Why so condescending towards the researchers? They are not the ones who decided to put the touch screens in the cars. The engineers working on it should have paused to think through this better, and decided not to do it. But since the decision to use touch screens was made, and some people like it and some people say it's a bad idea, that's a good topic for research to see if there's something more than personal preference to help make future decisions about this.
  • by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:27PM (#62802063)

    ... needs "Data" for this sort of insight? A physical button or switch you can touch is *obviously* going to be more userfriendly than a slate of glass, in any situation where you have to keep your eyes on where you're going and not what you're fumbling for on the dashboard. This is basic common sense. What's next? Water is wet and Pope is Catholic proven in new academic studies?

    Holy crap. I want my 5 minutes back.

    • > ... needs "Data" for this sort of insight?

      Data? They got funding. Who said anything about needing data? They needed money.

    • by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @09:27PM (#62802349)

      ... needs "Data" for this sort of insight? A physical button or switch you can touch is *obviously* going to be more userfriendly than a slate of glass... This is basic common sense.

      Don't think of it as "Data" - think of it as proof of unfitness for the designers who come up with this shit. You know, the ones who in an SF series would live on Golgafrinchan Ark Ship B, and who wouldn't recognize Common Sense if it came along and introduced itself to them by name.

    • Marketing departments and bean counters. Even when they are shown the hard data that their design goals suck they still do it. Repeatedly.
    • by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @10:39PM (#62802509) Homepage

      There are many "common sense" ideas that have been proven wrong, or have no basis in science (data). https://www.iflscience.com/sev... [iflscience.com]

      Science teaches us to question everything. What we always thought was true, might not be.

      In this case, the data backed up common sense. But that isn't always how it works out.

    • by Tom ( 822 )

      It's always useful to prove what you already know to be true, for two reasons that come immediately to mind: a) there's always someone who doubts the obvious, and b) maybe one time in a thousand you'll be surprised and find out that what everybody knew to be right actually isn't.

  • by markjhood2003 ( 779923 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:28PM (#62802065)
    All the new electric cars feature these huge touchscreens. I have to say it is the biggest disincentive I have for buying an electric car. I feel like I can perhaps give up the pleasurable experience of feeling like I'm actually operating the vehicle, but having to fumble with a touch screen with no tactile feedback at 70mph on the highway is a deal-breaker.
    • by Zarhan ( 415465 )

      Try Skoda Eniaq. Modern tech, same as with VW ID.3/ID.4, but all the physical buttons are still there.

      I also hate the iPads bolted onto dashboard.

  • late-90's early 2000's -- digital cameras are a nightmare of nested menus, and buttons to navigate.

    Mid 2000's -- digital cameras sprouted shutter dials on top and aperture rings on the lens. Whoa what a concept, right where the hands expect them to be.

    Still pain to set the date, time, etc. But having the shutter and apertures where they've been since the 50's.. yes, that's good.

    I skipped the button cars. Everything I've had is buttons and knobs, and in the case of my mini, it's mostly toggles. TOGGLES!

  • Traffic offences (Score:5, Interesting)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:38PM (#62802085)

    UK recently introduced a new traffic law which prohibits you from even touching your phone when you're driving, even if it's in navigation mode. You've got to set up the route before you set off and leave it at that until you're parked again and the engine is off. You are also not allowed to interact with your phone even if you're stationary in traffic.

    For me, it's common sense and I'm expecting more countries to follow suit very soon.

    This brings me to my point. Cars with touchstreen-only or even touchscreen-mostly interfaces are technically not that much different from mobile phones. It's the same (if not greater, trying to navigate all the complex menus) level of distraction, and one could argue that in the light of this new law interacting with cars via a touchscreen interface may also be technically illegal.

    • You are also not allowed to interact with your phone even if you're stationary in traffic.

      For me, it's common sense and I'm expecting more countries to
      follow suit very soon.

      Fiddling with [device that requires you take your eyes off the road] while in motion is a no brainer. But... ... do you have some possible scenario, where "fiddling with your phone while stationary in traffic" creates or tangibly increases any risk to you or others?

      If you are stationary in traffic, any thought that you "could react to

      • by Tom ( 822 )

        I guess the problem is that if it were allowed, people would take out their phone while rolling to a stop at the traffic light. While technically they're already breaking the rule here it would be very difficult to prove and they'd always say they only got it out once the vehicle was stopped.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        do you have some possible scenario, where "fiddling with your phone while stationary in traffic" creates or tangibly increases any risk to you or others?

        True story, stopped at a light in the right lane, the guy next to me was fiddling with his phone, the left turn light turned green, the guy in the left turn lane (next over) started moving and the idiot besides me started going through the intersection, causing the oncoming left turning driver to make an emergency stop. Close to an accident because the guy was fiddling with his phone while stationary in traffic, then started moving when the car besides him did.

    • Not sure about following suit - the UK was late to the party with that law compared to your European neighbors.

    • Enjoy being revenue generation with your 'common sense' authoritarianism.
  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:42PM (#62802099)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Their center console dial with satellite buttons doesn't require you eyes to go below dash level and screen at driving level provides visuals. Once your hands are acclimated to the console dial/buttons it's almost muscle memory to do complex operations without impacting safety.

    • Mazda has something very similar, quite a decent interface once you adapt. But utterly reviled by every car magazine I have ever seen.

      Of course I pretty much trash-heaped the car magazines as a group when one gave their annual award to a rig with the biggest point in its favor being that it had the biggest touch screen of the contenders. Rather than the one that did the best job of being a car.

      YMMV.
    • by Tom ( 822 )

      This.

      When I bought my current car, I checked and test-drove at least two dozen models, including a Tesla. And the primary reason I didn't like the Tesla (and I would have loved to like it, I own Tesla stock and am a big fan of the company) is the touchscreen. I finally bought a BMW - again. Because I love how the car is designed with the driver in mind, and how I can control absolutely everything without taking my eyes off the road. I can even enter a navigation target without looking at the screen. (you ca

  • by mspohr ( 589790 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:45PM (#62802103)

    They should have tested voice commands.

    • Oh right, because voice commands work so well in a noisy car environment! No, thank you.

      Also, it takes a lot longer to say "Increase the fan speed" than to tap the button once. "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that."

    • Maybe they should have test 4 year old Model S, running the original MCU computer that it came with, and latest version of software forced on it via OTA. Spoiler alert, the latest software was written for much faster hardware, voice commands never worked well, but now there is the added delay to process voice which by itself would have made car's time in this test very long.

      The problem with Tesla touch is not just the obvious, having to take your eyes off the road to navigate menus, but the fact that in
  • Tesla Buttons (Score:5, Interesting)

    by psergiu ( 67614 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:47PM (#62802109)

    If there is one accessory that Tesla could make and I would gladly purchase for my Model 3, is a thin bar of buttons to be mounted under the touchscreen.
    Is not only that some functions are only available thru the touch screen, but at every major software release, the UI gets redesigned and stuff moves around from where it was before. F--- no, I need the control to open the glove box to be exactly where I remember it was when I have to open that glove box fast.
    And no, pushing a button on the steering wheel and screaming "Open glove box" at the car is not a solution covering 100% of the use cases.

    • Why in heck would anyone design a glovebox that is opened by a button on a touchscreen anyway. What is wrong with the old-fashioned physical handle?
      • by psergiu ( 67614 )

        When you enable Valet Mode (added as free OTA update in 2015), besides the speed/acceleration limits , the glove box and front trunk cannot be unlocked.

    • You think touch is bad, try a 4+ year old Model S (pre 3/2018) with the older MCU. It runs the latest software, but of course that software was written for much newer hardware. Latest Model S already has a newer MCU hardware than Model 3, so once new Model 3's get that hardware, watch every OTA make your UI slower and slower, and new as well as some old features stop working.
  • Can I just mane a brief complaint about Android Auto? Not only touch screen but terribly buggy. The radio turns on at the wrong time, it gets confused when a text comes just before you start something else. It crashes. It doesn't understand me. Spotify doesn't work, Spotify works. News doesn't work, news works. Something designed to use from driving should work without fail; anything else is distracting.
  • by stabiesoft ( 733417 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @08:14PM (#62802171) Homepage
    But because it is cheaper now than switches to have even the big screen sized touch LCD, it will be the default. Tesla led the way on this one. I could have predicted physical buttons have gotten as cheap as they were going to get and based on prices for big screen tv's pretty easy to predict prices on the 20-30" units would drop like a rock. A single panel mount switch is around a buck. Toggles are close to 3. Add backlighting and 6 switches can cost a display. Simple economics.
  • common sense doesn't cut it anymore
    • Common sense is often wrong. https://www.iflscience.com/sev... [iflscience.com]

      In this case, the data backed it up. But often, it doesn't.

      • While I agree with your point, half of the examples in that article are not common sense at all, but old wive's tales. Something that is common sense, you will be able to make a sensible argument as to why it's true, even if that argument is flawed.

        • The article could have been better, I agree. But the distinction between "old wives' tales" and "common sense" can be blurry. What makes logical sense to you, and what makes logical sense to me, might be very different. That's why science is based on testing hypotheses to determine if, in fact, they are true.

  • Time to change the setting is not the best measure of distraction. It may take much longer to use a voice command, but distraction is far less.

    • Looking for a button with more than a side glance should be an automatic fail. Their test roads don't look to have any bumps or dips in them.

      I actually started using the voice control in my car because trying even touching quickly the right spot on a touch screen is too hit and miss when the car is in actual motion on real world roads. Yea I shouldn't be trying to use the screen while driving, the problem is that it is there just begging to be used. At least all the controls they tested are still normal
  • What, really? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @09:12PM (#62802301) Journal

    Buttons vs touchscreens? I can't believe this is even a question.

    Manufacturers hate moving parts and will do anything they can do to get rid of them, even something simple as a button or switch. So yes, they'll ruin the customer experience of anything,including a car, as long as they can reduce the part count.

    And that's exactly why they do this. It's not about customer experience, it's about saving 39 cents and avoiding the unlikely chance of a switch failing, thereby "ruining the customer experience". Plus, it's shiny.

    Touchscreens suck for vehicular controls unless your driving a John Deere combine or whatever. For a passenger vehicle? Pure shit.

    • by BeaverCleaver ( 673164 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @09:54PM (#62802421)

      Buttons vs touchscreens? I can't believe this is even a question.

      Manufacturers hate moving parts and will do anything they can do to get rid of them, even something simple as a button or switch. So yes, they'll ruin the customer experience of anything,including a car, as long as they can reduce the part count.

      And that's exactly why they do this. It's not about customer experience, it's about saving 39 cents and avoiding the unlikely chance of a switch failing, thereby "ruining the customer experience". Plus, it's shiny.

      Touchscreens suck for vehicular controls unless your driving a John Deere combine or whatever. For a passenger vehicle? Pure shit.

      I'd mod you up but I've already posted on here. Touchscreens also have the advantage (to the manufacturer, not to you) that when they do fail, a whole load of features get crippled at all at once. Audio, HVAC, navigation, seats, mirrors... So you go to replace the touchscreen module - even if the obsolete touchscreen is still available, it will cost way more than a simple switch. Oh well, the car is a few years old, maybe the dealer will give you a trade-in on a new car.

        It would do massive harm to the used-car market, which of course would be a boon to the car manufacturers - they would be thrilled if we had to buy a new car as often as we buy new phones.

  • You just know it's probably been secretly tried at more than one company.

    Also: gloves. I am surprised that safety equipment and basic controls are not required to function even when the driver has a pair of thick insulated gloves. Haptic buttons are the worst of both worlds, just trying to find the button you have now accidentally pressed it or the one next to it. Does haptic even work through gloves?
  • Today I drove a C class, w205, and the new one, w206. The 206 has jettisoned all the classic great feel benz interior switchgear, and replaced it with two screens, one haptic strip below the center stack screen, and two haptic controls on each side of the wheel. It must cost benz a LOT less to use the new haptic stuff....but there is a large sacrifice in feel. The wheel controls on the W205, discrete switches are easy to use and give positive feedback. The haptic nonsense on the W206 don't swipe correct
  • by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Thursday August 18, 2022 @10:46PM (#62802529) Homepage

    They benefit the manufacturer. With a touch screen, they can use a stock physical device and design the user interface later, or change it over time, or charge subscriptions to enable "premium" features.

  • Keep using knobs for volume and temperature controls. The little push up/down toggle-style buttons on the steering wheel are terrible for volume control.

  • I'm a recently new Model 3 owner. Overall, no regrets, but not in love with everything on the screen. Ride is pretty stiff so trying to look and push the screen is hit and miss.

    Voice recognition is so-so but sometimes I summon a thermostat request that doesn't compute. I'm still getting used to it. Great car, but that part is a bit frustrating.

    My former 2006 Honda CRV which I put over 200k on was simple. 3 big dials: fan speed, temp and venting. A button to turn on AC. That's it. Dials were big and notched.

  • by superdave80 ( 1226592 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @12:17AM (#62802633)

    I still can't believe that touchscreens for basic functions in place of physical buttons EVER was okayed by anybody. I'm loving my new Ford Mach E, but I hate, hate, hate that all of the A/C and fan functions are at the bottom of my big-ass touchscreen.

    Right now, I have to hit the 'fan' button, wait for the slider +/- thing to pop up, then touch the + or - button the correct number of times WITHOUT hitting anywhere else on the screen, lest the slider disappear. Did I mention that they are at the BOTTOM of the screen, so I really have to look down and take my eyes off the road to do this. How this even got past the testing stage is beyond me. I'd happily pay $1,000 to rip out the oversized iPad and put back in the control panel/screen from my old 2016 Kia Optima.

    Oh, and buttons to pop the door open in place of door handles? Just stupid and unnecessary.

  • The right test is to measure how long it takes to do all these tasks while requiring the driver to keep his eyes on the road. My guess is that the time difference is far greater than the less useful task allowing eyes to wander to the touchscreen.

    Another useful test is the safety test. Sort of like the driver distraction tests with cell phones, but instead asking the driver to perform the indicated tasks with buttons or touchscreen while a safety critical event happens around the car.

  • by ayesnymous ( 3665205 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @02:08AM (#62802765)
    How can you use a touchscreen if you're supposed to keep your eyes on the road?
  • That's a novel way of saying "die horribly in a massive oxygen explosion".

  • by 6Yankee ( 597075 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @05:24AM (#62803007)

    Less Apple, more Fisher-Price, please.

  • by bsdetector101 ( 6345122 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @06:03AM (#62803061)
    When is doesn't work, what will you do then and the cost to fix ?
  • Guarantee all car companies have a dedicated UX/UI design department. These people should have equal knowledge in both dedicated hardware and software controlled user interaction. A good UX/UI department would conduct user group studies to narrow down to the most effective, fast responding driver control experience.
  • by groobly ( 6155920 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @11:25AM (#62804009)

    It doesn't take a genius to realize that controls that you can feel are better than ones that you have to look at a screen to operate.

  • by TomR teh Pirate ( 1554037 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @12:16PM (#62804195)
    Cars I have had in the family:
    - 2003 Infiniti G35 had so many damn buttons for HVAC / Infotainment that it seemed like I was controlling a space shuttle. Usability - poor
    - 2014 Honda Odyssey had touchscreen for infotainment functions and several buttons + 2 knobs for hvac system. Implementation and usability - poor
    - 2017 Ford F150 'stx' trim level has touchscreen for infotainment and has 2 knobs + minimal buttons for hvac. Implementation and usability - fair to good
    - 2003 Honda CRV (iirc) has 3 knobs + button for HVAC and an old-school AM/FM/Cassette stereo. Implementation and usability - excellent

    The big winners are HVAC systems which use giant knobs to change "states" of the system. The CRV's first knob clearly indicates whether the blower will be hitting feet, feet+windshield, windshield, or center dash vents. The second knob sets fan speed, and the third knob provides an analog adjustment of cold-->hot. One knob as a single, large button to indicate whether air is recirculated or drawn from outside, and another knob has a single, large button to indicate whether AC is turned on. It takes about 2 seconds to figure out what you're getting. Wish all cars were managed like this.
  • by oogoliegoogolie ( 635356 ) on Friday August 19, 2022 @05:58PM (#62805129)

    I and millions of other people have been saying that touchscreens are clumsy and dangerous because you need to take your eyes off the road to use them because there is no tactile feel.

    With buttons, when you're driving you can't glance down for a second to look exactly where the AC button is, then feel for it as you keep your eyes on the road...."Top left button...there it is!" You can't do that with a touchscreen. It's a flat piece of glass that is impossible to know where you are tapping or what you are tapping on without looking at it.
    Touchscreens in cars need to provide some kind of feedback other than verbal as to what or where you are pressing.

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