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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

#481
post #226
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exact type of input is being grabbed by these screens? "Critical pilot systems"? Touchscreens already exist in airliners, for systems used by crew and passengers, but that's beside the point.

I fly recreationally and all the higher end gear has touch screens. Some of them are redundant with paths using hardware controls or not. But that's definitely the minority. There are a slew of critical operations that I simply cannot complete without interacting with a touch screen. Not saying it's right or wrong but your original post is 100% incorrect.

Are these things certified?

Many recreational pilots fly with uncertified gear (GPS in particular), and even regular smartphone/tablet apps. They also have the required paper documentation and certified instrument but that's just to cover themselves, and as a backup.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#482
post #469

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-…

I'd be interested to see how having a conversation with a passenger lines up.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#483
I find the climate control on my Honda Civic to be maddeningly confusing for reasons that aren’t really too related to the fact that it has some touchscreen elements, but I’m glad nonetheless. I feel like forcing things to physical buttons forces certain design decisions that you want anyways.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#484
Mazda have also announced the same thing. (https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1121372_why-mazda-is-pur...)

Favorite quote: “Doing our research, when a driver would reach towards a touch-screen interface in any vehicle, they would unintentionally apply torque to the steering wheel, and the vehicle would drift out of its lane position,”

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#485
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can assure you that PFD (primary flight display) interfaces are very much safety-critical. And they will be touch interfaces.

Personally I think it's an awful idea. I just watched the promotional video that I expected to give some answers as to why this design decision was made and I frankly ended up even more worried.[1] I can accept that I'm somewhat of a luddite when it comes to this and I might be wrong, I just hope these are thoroughly tested and actually solve real world problems, and aren't just a way for Boeing to save money or solv…

You would have a difficult time finding an airborne system that does not already do this:

> I just hope these are thoroughly tested and actually solve real world problems

Changing from a legacy style to a new one is not cheap, and aerospace companies are not the type to spend money on useless, less reliable technology.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#487
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…

Dynamic interface can still be useful in some cases. Cars do require the driver’s active attention, but certainly not the passenger’s, who can operate the touchscreen. Further, undoubtably part of what makes controls intuitive is familiarity, and thanks to smartphones, tablets, and to some degree even modern laptops, it’s hard to argue against it from a familiarity standpoint. I’m sure it’s been attempted but, It’s hard to imagine a good mapping interface in a car with no touchscreen at all.

I’m still glad for what Honda is actually doing, which is not unilaterally removing touch screen controls but instead moving climate control back to physical buttons. These are things a driver ought to be able to operate safely while in motion, and touch controls only ever made them more complicated I think.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#488
post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice control sucks IMO, even though a lot of people now grow up with Alexa and similar and adapt to the technology. Why does it suck, just like some "smart" buttons? Because it's not obvious what it can do. You have to learn the vocabulary it understands and its other limitations (tone etc.). For example, I tried to get my Tesla to text one of my contacts recently and failed. I didn't know whether it just didn't und…

not obvious to you. I suspect younger generations won't have much of an issue with this, similar to how millenials learned how to utilize google search easily while it confounded their parents

Have you watched a younger person search? Most of them don't have any clue what they're doing either. Presumably it's just more socially acceptable for older people to admit their ignorance. :)

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#489
The only feedback I've seen has echoed my own sentiment: "Good". What is the opposing point of view? Is there anyone out there who is willing to defend touch-screen interfaces in vehicles? What's the advantage to the driver? Is it even that much cheaper to the manufacturer? Surely plastic knobs are not a big hit to the bottom line of car makers.
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