Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

autocar.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 770 posts

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#31

Post by axaxs »

Robotbeat wrote: post #18
samizdis wrote: post #8

Eminently sensible call by Honda. Knobs, dials and switches work well and do not demand that a driver takes their eyes off the road. I suppose that voice controls would be a reasonably safe tech option, but probably not cost-effective.

Is taking your hands off the steering wheel much better? Ideally, all controls would be available on the steering wheel without removing either hand. Or, as you say, voice controls.

Taking your hand off the steering wheel isn't so bad. It's loss of attention, even for 1 second, that's extremely dangerous. Touch screens make you look away from the road. Knobs and buttons do not. However, jamming them all into the steering wheel may then cause the same problem, as if there's too many things in the same area you'd have to look down to find what you're looking for.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#32

Post by jerf »

I buy cheaper cars, because I don't really care about any of the high-end features that cars offer, and this has been one legitimate advantage, at least as of the last time I was shopping; cheap cars cheaped out on the display, so they still had physical controls for things like volume. I hope this trend takes off before I buy another.

I think it would be possible to make a decent touch screen, but it seems like the only people who give even a quantum of a damn about latency are the video game folks. A UI with 95th-percentile or 99th-percentile multi-second latency is an active hazard on the road, even if it is normally acceptable, which itself is fairly rare and expensive.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#34

Post by TheCapn »

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Touchscreens CAN BE DONE RIGHT. (or at least better)

I have an aftermarket JVC headunit in my 2003 VW. It has one button, that's the "Menu" button on single press, or Power button when held.

The screen itself is relatively intuitive to control without looking because of a gesture feature it has as well as button placement being useful.

If I want more volume I put one finger on the screen and make a circle gesture in the clockwise direction. Down is counter-clockwise. The play/pause button is in the very bottom right so you can find the button with feel. You can shuffle songs with another gesture (though I never use it).

I really like my touchscreen. And every time I am using a work vehicle (Ford Explorers), or my wife's GMC Sierra, I hate the controls because you have to look up to see what you're doing. Thankfully their steeringwheel controls are generally good.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#35

Post by donaltroddyn »

Robotbeat wrote: post #18
samizdis wrote: post #8

Eminently sensible call by Honda. Knobs, dials and switches work well and do not demand that a driver takes their eyes off the road. I suppose that voice controls would be a reasonably safe tech option, but probably not cost-effective.

Is taking your hands off the steering wheel much better? Ideally, all controls would be available on the steering wheel without removing either hand. Or, as you say, voice controls.

I'm not at all convinced that voice recognition are better or safer than well designed physical controls.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#37

Post by PascLeRasc »

Unfortunately we won't get this car in the US. I love my 1st gen Honda Fit and plan to keep it pretty much forever, they're such a great vehicle. Incredible gas mileage and they're actually fun to drive with the short wheelbase. In tune with the article I put the only Carplay receiver with a physical volume knob in it and it's perfectly easy to use.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#38

Post by ellard »

Good. Touch screen controls are a good tool for communicating visual information while having some way to still give users some controls. Tactile controls are good tools for when the operator needs to visually focus on something else and feedback can be sensed in other ways. For cars, the only visual information it should show to the driver are either things that are controlled outside of a touch screen (speedometer, tach) or can't be controlled while the vehicle is in operation anyway (oil temp gauge, etc). Everything else can be intuitively sensed by the driver's other senses and the important part of the control is the feedback saying that you are in fact manipulating the controls properly.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#40

Post by jgust »

TheCapn wrote: post #34

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Touchscreens CAN BE DONE RIGHT. (or at least better) I have an aftermarket JVC headunit in my 2003 VW. It has one button, that's the "Menu" button on single press, or Power button when held. The screen itself is relatively intuitive to control without looking because of a gesture feature it has as well as button placement being useful. If I want more volume I put one finger on…

Or you know, knobs and buttons which don't require any user on-boarding or discovery process.
Post reply on HN