Please make a dumb car • Hacker News Board

Re: Please make a dumb car

#131

Post by Broken_Hippo » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 9:59 AM UTC

jaclaz wrote: post #115

Zababa wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chairs at home and office aren't fixed in place to a vehicle that has a battery.

Ok, what about airplane or bus and train seats? They are fixed in place to a vehicle with a battery, still you don't have them powered. Not that car ones (powered, heating, massaging, etc.) are not nice and comfortable, only that they remain a form of luxury.

I don't drive planes nor busses. I'm a passenger: The back seat(s) of passenger cars are often fixed too. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the bus driver's seat is powered.

I do drive cars, though, and sometimes other people's cars. I'd much rather be able to adjust while driving so that I can have better control over the car than have to fumble with levers, which might propel me back far enough that I cannot brake. Heck, I might have been having to adjust because I didn't realize how far i needed to press the brake in the first place.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#132

Post by aitchnyu » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:06 AM UTC

khazhoux wrote: post #74

Our Volvo doesn't let you adjust the volume when you're in reverse. That means if you're backing out of the garage and the music is blaring -- you can't turn it off! The Volvo UI pops up an almost full-display warning when it can't connect to the phone over bluetooth on startup. This UI takes priority over the rear camera . So I guess it's better to hit Timmy and his puppy when I'm backing out, so long as I know my p…

My Toyota's head unit bulldozes to reverse mode and if I was in reverse for 10 seconds, the song resumes 10 seconds as if its been playing in the background.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#133

Post by dgudkov » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:13 AM UTC

I can totally relate, but I'm afraid that "smart" cars will push out "dumb" cars in dealerships just like "smart" TVs pushed out "dumb" TVs in big box stores. Why? Because people like feeling they have more for less money.

Wait until you get bombarded with ads in your "smart" car. It's coming, have no doubts.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#134

Post by esalman » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:14 AM UTC

tsujp wrote: post #41

One thing I was flabbergasted at recently was Tesla offering, and the government allowing, regular drivers to use a yoke steering wheel like F1 drivers. Not only is it harder for the average person to handle but their firmware hadn't accounted for the fact that if you steer fully left or right the yoke is upside down and if you try and indicate it ends up indicating on the wrong side. What is wrong with a wheel and f…

Tesla is basically the 2000s prius. It is cool now, but in near future won't be anymore.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#135

Post by Gigachad » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:15 AM UTC

iforgotpassword wrote: post #102

laputan_machine wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch-based buttons feels like a huge step backwards. Have we learned nothing from having to use touch phones for the last 12 years, either that or everyone is much better than me at not missing touch inputs

And everyone wants to be part of that cool touch movement too, by using capacitive touch buttons. So modern! And cheaper too, but that doesn't stop you from marketing it as premium. Try buying a stove with induction and normal knobs. Nope, it's touch. Cheap touch buttons, that don't work if your hands are wet, or greasy. Which totally never happens when you're cooking. So you're handling three pots, one starts boilin…

Touch controls on stoves are mostly about making cleaning easier. You just wipe a flat surface.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#136

Post by EliRivers » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:16 AM UTC

komadori wrote: post #99

furyg3 wrote: post #87

Hear hear. I sold my old 2004 Skoda Fabia (which for Americans has the technology of a 2000 VW golf), since repairs were costing more and the car sharing here in Amsterdam is really becoming reliable for the few times I need a car. Recently I rented a car for a ski trip, a recent Jeep Renegade, oh my lord. It was constantly trying to take the controls from me (god forbid you change lanes without signaling on a totall…

I can see why you might feel silly indicating on an empty road, but personally I find indicating to be such an integral and effortless part of turning or changing lane that I always indicate even if I can't see anyone about. By comparison, when drivers are making judgement calls about whether it's necessary to indicate, I'm often suprised by their unexpected movements. This is particularly true as a pedestrian as som…

"I always indicate even if I can't see anyone about."

Well of course. "Nobody else is here" looks the same to you (and me) as "I haven't seen that other road user", and in the event that you haven't seen the other road user, the only chance they have is for them to take action and they really, really need the warning of your indicator lights.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#137

Post by Gigachad » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:17 AM UTC

dTal wrote: post #83

random_savv wrote: post #67

> For media, an aux input does it all. Doubles as a charging cable, and you could easily swap it out for different and new devices I thought aux only carries analog sound, is charging a new feature? Did I miss Aux-C? What does the author mean?

Aux-PD (power delivery) is definitely not a thing, and now I'm mad I didn't think of it.

The iPod nano used aux for data and charging. But not at the same time as audio.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#138

Post by chakintosh » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:31 AM UTC

khazhoux wrote: post #74

Our Volvo doesn't let you adjust the volume when you're in reverse. That means if you're backing out of the garage and the music is blaring -- you can't turn it off! The Volvo UI pops up an almost full-display warning when it can't connect to the phone over bluetooth on startup. This UI takes priority over the rear camera . So I guess it's better to hit Timmy and his puppy when I'm backing out, so long as I know my p…

I'm a UX designer and I've taken delivery of an XC40 Recharge two months ago, and I've never felt dumber in my life.

Don't get me wrong, the car is absolutely wonderful, but the UX is so badly designed it makes me question myself.

For starters, I have absolutely no clue how to use the lights, fans and wipers. Just last Saturday, a design oversight (and idiocy from my part) caused me to reverse into another car parked behind me, I reversed to leave the parking spot, then instead of switching to D, I forgot it on R all while the rearview camera is showing red lines. For a car equipped with driving assists (collision avoidance and line assists), it shouldn't have let me reverse any more as it was seeing a clear obstacle behind me or at least make me double check by beeping the rearview camera, it only beeps for 5 seconds when it sees an obstacle then stops, same for the open door and seatbelts.

There is also the odometer, there are 3 different odometers in the car and all of them are showing different values, one with a TM next to it, another one with this symbol Ø and a third one in the "Driver performance" tab. So which one is the real distance and what's the difference? Only the norse gods know.

Also, the charge and fuel left gauges adapt to your driving by going up or down instead of showing you the real amount of fuel/charge left. And it already nearly left me stranded on the highway with 5km left of fuel.

This car is amazing but there are a lot of design oversights when it comes to UX.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#139

Post by julian_t » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:32 AM UTC

My Renault EV, while excellent in many respects, does suffer from Smart Car Syndrome (or is it Dumb Designer Syndrome?)

The "please make sure you observe local road laws!" popup obscures the whole touchscreen for over a minute when you start off. It's been showing me this each time I've driven off for three years. I've got the message.

The intermittent windscreen wipers are supposed to respond to the rain on the screen, but vary in their response from nothing to double speed, uncorrelated to the actual weather. Can I just have an adjustable "once every few seconds" control?

And the best one - timed charging doesn't work over Saturday night/Sunday morning. Every other night, fine, but not then. Completely reproducible. I suspect some sort of date roll-over bug, but Renault have given up trying to find a problem.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#140

Post by dasKrokodil » Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 10:36 AM UTC

jb1991 wrote: post #81

> Teslas with missed payments drive themselves to be impounded. Welcome to the future. Is this real? That sounds like a terrible terrible idea, can’t imagine any government body allowing this.

Yeah I can't imagine it either. With the current state of its "self-driving" technology, the Tesla would probably cause several accidents on the way to the impound lot.