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Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

autocar.co.uk

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Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#471

Post by Dahoon »

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.

Voice controls are worse than texting:

"Undistracted drivers typically showed a one-second reaction time. Those who used the voice-controlled Apple CarPlay saw a 36% increase in their reaction time, which rose to 57% when they used the touch interface."

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/20/new-study-shows-u...

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#472

Post by danbolt »

hnarn wrote: post #138

Look at the cockpit of any modern airliner and you will see screens, but they are never interactive. There are hardware buttons, dials and lights all over the place. A tactile interface is both more obvious, sturdy and more stable, and therefore safer. The problem that touch interfaces solve, ever since the advent of the first smart phone, is that the interface is now dynamic. You can change it without having to repl…

I think that’s partially why the market for handheld game devices didn’t get crowded out by smartphones. Tactile inputs let the player’s muscle memory work as a more direct shorthand into the product for a lot of video games. It helps the repeated interactions of a video game be more accessible over a “look, then touch” method of input.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#473

Post by Dahoon »

TomVDB wrote: post #304
woozyolliew wrote: post #23

Always seemed like a cargo cult: iphone good; touch good; buttons bad (steve said). Let’s hope it’s a new trend! I love that my Audi still has tactile buttons and wheels, and was a big factor in choosing it. My previous car had a touch screen and it was so dangerous having to brace my hand for accuracy and stare at my fingers while driving.

Audi may be doing some things right (I love the location of the audio volume knob), it doesn't compensate for that ridiculous touch pad which you're supposed to use to enter street names by writing the characters one by one with your finger... and many other UI warts. The best thing about Audi's console is that fact that they support Apple CarPlay.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/20/new-study-shows-u...

Using Apple Carplay is more dangerous than texting.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#474

Post by odysseus »

gkfasdfasdf wrote: post #402
sneak wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only conclude from the situation you describe, as well as the fact that most cameras (as cameras, not phones) still lack GPS and sometimes Wi-Fi, that a great many industrial designers are trend-following, uncreative bores. Most modern car interior controls are horrible (Tesla’s giant laggy touchscreen included).

Laggy? The Tesla Model 3 touchscreen is anything but. I had many reservations about the touchscreen prior to ownership, however I don't really have any complaints now. You get used to it, Tesla's specifically is not laggy, and most critical stuff is on the steering wheel/stalk anyway.

Maybe this has been improved in the Model 3, but in older models: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/how-laggy-is-your-to...

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#475

Post by klibertp »

mc32 wrote: post #334
CivBase wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for an avionics manufacturer and I can assure you most of our upcoming comercial systems (and even a healthy portion of government ones) feature touch screen inputs.

That’s too bad. Imagine unresponsive touchscreen due to dry skin or wearing gloves, or hands are too sweaty.... or the controller goes out, etc. Flight plans is one thing but controls are all together a different sort of thing. Why ask for trouble?

I have no idea how, but my smartwatch touchscreen remains responsive underwater, in a bathtub or swimming pool. It was with on every workout, and it both endured the energetic movements and sweaty hands were not an issue. The thing has more RAM and CPU power than my desktop in first half of the 90s, runs Linux, and is programmed with JS (well, there's gotta be some faulty part in every design). Anyway, if I can buy such a thing for a few hundred dollars, then - unless there are some physical limitations I'm not aware of - it should be possible for people who build the planes.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#476

Post by nickpinkston »

fanatic2pope wrote: post #263
nickpinkston wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually the approach Ferrari uses: https://images.app.goo.gl/KdEV4qWFEHouDEq28

No radio! As god herself intended.

Still a phone though - I guess you might get an important call on the road :D

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#477

Post by gnicholas »

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.

Voice control still isn't there yet. Siri frequently thinks I'm talking to her when I say "hey [kid's name]" — despite the fact that my kid's name shares zero letters with "Siri", either in English or in IPA.

This is pretty surprising/disappointing, considering that the /s/ sound is pretty distinct, and considering that I did the "hey Siri" training when I got my phone.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#478

Post by 205guy »

thoraway1010 wrote: post #272
vwcx wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. There are many moments during the operation of an aircraft where full attention is paramount. Yes, you see a pilot leaving the cockpit to use the lavatory while the co-pilot is monitoring the autopilot, but the margins are just as small as operating a motor vehicle.

Absolutely not true. In cruise, stabilized, especially with AP - the margins are MUCH MUCH higher. Pilots have fallen asleep (two of them) - overflown airports still landed etc.

I remember when that happened, pretty shocking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go!_(airline)#2008_incident_an...

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#479

Post by [deleted] »

Dahoon wrote: post #469
throwanem wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My car has onboard voice controls, but, unlike Siri via the car's audio system, they suck. Recognition is slow and unreliable enough that I never bother, and if I did, the cognitive overhead would be unacceptably high anyway. They'd have done better not to bother implementing them at all and instead just offload that work to the driver's paired smartphone, which for a sedan that listed $32k new, it's very reasonable…

>My car has onboard voice controls, but, unlike Siri via the car's audio system, they suck Using Siri is more dangerous than driving and texting: "Undistracted drivers typically showed a one-second reaction time. Those who used the voice-controlled Apple CarPlay saw a 36% increase in their reaction time, which rose to 57% when they used the touch interface." https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/20/new-study-shows-…

[deleted]

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#480

Post by krebs_liebhaber »

bregma wrote: post #467
deskamess wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting... I wonder what it would take for a touchscreen keyboard to be as reliable or live as long as a mechanical keyboard. Maybe it already does, but my mental picture and experience of phone screens getting flaky, and taking secondary+ swipes does not give me the confidence a mechanical keyboard does.

If they can make a durable touchscreen keyboard with a good click sound and feel and reasonable key travel and resistance, and that doesn't get crudded up with skin oils and food film, I'm willing to pay big bucks for it.

> If they can make a durable touchscreen keyboard ... that doesn't get crudded up with skin oils and food film

You can already get one of those. Just go to the bathroom, turn on the sink, and put your hands under the stream of water. If you're a touch-screen power user, you can even put water on the screen - and then wipe it off!

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