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Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

motorauthority.com

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Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#571

Post by Piskvorrr »

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #454
toyg wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The steering wheel is where most of this stuff should be all the time. The second you force me to reposition my hand, security levels drop off a cliff, since you get involuntary movement on the other side (as proven by this post) and likely take your eyes off the road, which is bad even for a split second. I know this for a fact, having crashed a car on a motorway as I was turning down the fan (controlled by an analo…

What about physical buttons for the more-used stuff (radio, AC, cruise control) and use voice control (along with physical buttons) for everything else? Obviously, the voice control would need to havr some way to ignore the kids in the backseat, or can ask the driver / parent for permission for this to be a good idea.

The "obvious" problem is harder than it looks. Even searching in the navigation app gets confused by voice prompts from the same app...so you get things like "find closest gas speed station check ahead". And that's before you get various people involved, never mind any impediments.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#572

Post by Fins »

higginsc wrote: post #481
rockinghigh wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have used Audi’s version of CarPlay without a touchscreen and I hated it. Circling through icons that were designed for a touch interface made no sense. Tesla’s interface is not perfect but interacting with the map is so much better with its large touchscreen.

Yep. I recently spent a day driving an S5 and S6, and the non-touchscreen carplay was terrible. I have a touchscreen version in my 2017 CR-V, and it is a joy to use. I read the comments in this thread, and it makes me laugh. So much "TOUCHSCREENS ARE THE DEVIL, NOBS AND BUTTONS ONLY." It just doesn't jive with my experience at all. Maybe it's a generation gap thing? I'm 30 FWIW.

Possibly. If the only thing you're used to and expect is a touchscreen, you will long for a touchscreen even when it is objectively a worse experience.

Seriously... I've seen people right here on HN claiming that "look, navigate to a touch menu, navigate to another menu, select an item, press and hold" is superior to "press one button on the door".

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#573

Post by asdf21 »

perch56 wrote: post #396

I own a 2014 Mazda 3, brilliant car. The touchscreen firmware is a pain to update every year while servicing it. When I bought the car it came it the GPS hardware pre-installed however I was supposed to buy the maps separately for about $500. I didn't see the point in this as for that money I could have bought a new iPhone at that time and have various navigation apps. I also praise Mazda for the decision. In the 5 y…

2016 Mazda 3, completely agree.

Also have a 2016 Model S, and the bluetooth works much better on the Mazda, as far connecting and using a cellphone quickly.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#574

Post by Phillipharryt »

bumby wrote: post #435
Phillipharryt wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you're arguing in favour of the space shuttle there. It has no contextual buttons. I'll always argue that contextual controls do not belong in critical systems. Every button on that shuttle will do the same thing every time you press it. A touch screen looks nice but isn't safe. Mission control is telling you to press X button, but X button isn't actually on your display right now?? That's a big problem.

>Every button on that shuttle will do the same thing every time you press it. I agree with you in spirit, but would disagree with this particular point. Apollo had an erroneous "Abort" signal because a particular switch didn't do what it was supposed to, because it had some interesting failure modes in zero-gravity. I think is dangerous to assume that one design is flawless over the other; both touch-screens and mech…

Ok perhaps I could change that to "every working button on the shuttle will do the same thing every time I press it".

Your mention of zero gravity has brought up another consideration for me. Assuming it's a capacitive touchscreen you need to ensure no conductive material ever floats into contact with it by mistake. Switches and buttons have covers and rails to prevent accidental pressing but how do you manage that with touchscreens? Apple manages it on your phone because a false negative is ok in that case, I don't think you can allow that on a spacecraft. How is a floating glove finger differentiated from a glove actually attached to hand?

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#575

Post by infecto »

raydev wrote: post #490
blattimwind wrote: post #194

It's funny how the dashboard UI of lower-end cars tends to be consistently better than higher-end cars, because low end cars simply have a bunch of buttons that you can use without taking your eyes of the road. Sometimes even the location of controls is much better in low end cars; the VW up! comes to mind with all important controls located directly next to the steering wheel. Beautiful. In other cars just switching…

Ignoring the radio and focusing only on airflow controls: I dearly miss the console in my base model 2006 Yaris. It had 3 Fisher Price-sized knobs that I never had to look at when switching from feet/defog/face, changing temperature, and fan speed. It never stressed me, and each position on the knob had a satisfying clunk. I "upgraded" to a 2017 Subaru and the air controls are laid out with completely flat, indistinc…

I have a 08 Yaris Hatchback...best controls ever. And yes those knobs make the clunk feel and noise....I love it.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#576

Post by infecto »

Just a thought but I wonder if this whole touch UI craze was due in part to the legislation that require backup cameras in America and forced all cars to come with a lcd screen. I get this feeling companies then just all jumped on the touch UI bandwagon because now they were forced to have a screen for the backup camera.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#577

Post by stakhanov »

Kudos to them! They just did their research and acted on it. (At least that's how it appears). That's how it should be.

At many companies, the people doing that kind of research would be people who no one really listens to. They would do the research. Then PHB-type characters would enter the scene. And if research yields recommendations that would steer the company away from the safety of the herd (of automakers, in that case), then the research would be cancelled and the recommendations ignored.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#578

Post by pwg »

marapuru wrote: post #47

Praise to Mazda for making this decision. As a User Experience Professional, I was never able to grasp the true user's need for touch screens in cars. For years I have been working on product interfaces (not just apps). Many studies I conducted actually told me that people favored analog controls over digital touch screens controls. It gives you tactile feedback, making it accessible for anyone with sense of touch. >…

> As a User Experience Professional, I was never able to grasp the true user's need for touch screens in cars.

You are viewing the 'need' from the end user perspective. That is likely not the driving force that is causing touch screen proliferation.

The likely driving force that is causing it is the manufacturers BOM costs.

A single, rectangular, touch screen, that can swallow up a bunch of different knobs and buttons and basic displays, is likely cheaper from an overall BOM perspective than the set of knobs and buttons and basic displays (and supporting material (mechanical and wiring) for those knobs/buttons/displays).

And, if two (or more) different car models use the same size rectangular screen, then one single "screen" can be used for plural models (with only software differences) vs. the need for unique moldings/buttons/etc. when providing the physical knobs and buttons on different models.

The touch screen also enables different "accessory classes" even within the same model by a software change vs. a different piece of hardware. Think basic hot/cold/manual blower speed climate control vs. higher end climate control where you set a specific temp and the system picks heat/cool/blower speed. The same single touch screen can provide both the 'basic' and the 'luxury' interface via a software change vs. two different physical control units inserted into the dash.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#579

Post by _zamorano_ »

Shivetya wrote: post #182

Well after owning a Tesla Model 3 I am of the opinion, why in the hell do we need forty plus buttons in cars? Seriously! (Go count your buttons, some cars are higher than that) First off with regards to the touch screen in the Tesla. In the vast majority of drives I never ever touch it. Not once. Why not? Well I have my temperature preference set, I usually play the music that is coming off my phone, and well, what e…

You don't listen to music at the same volume in all situations.

I often set a volume level that feels right just before parking my car after getting home at the same time everybody else does. The same volume feels incredible loud when getting back to the car early in the morning.

The same goes with climate control. I can get to my car after a long run in that case I'll likely need a colder temperature than what I need after coming back to the cinema.

I find myself adjusting volume and climate often in different situations. I have an old car and use mecanical switches. Going to a touchscreen to me would be a step backwards.

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