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Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

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Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#231

Post by rascul »

zip1234 wrote: post #204
tablespoon wrote: post #31

> ...the Mustang Mach-E and the Lightning have a 15.5-inch portrait center screen running Sync 4A, which is the same as Sync 4 with the addition of touchscreen climate controls and widgets that fill out the vertical height of the display. Why??? Climate controls should not be on a touchscreen. Display is fine, but control is not. Just leave space for some knobs and a mode switch.

The Mach E climate controls on the touchscreen are fine. With modern cars, mostly just set it to the temp you like and leave it. It isn't like old cars where constant fiddling with fan and temp to get everything correct is needed.

> With modern cars, mostly just set it to the temp you like and leave it. It isn't like old cars where constant fiddling with fan and temp to get everything correct is needed.

Opposite for me. I can set and forget the old style. This auto crap requires constant adjustment to keep me comfortable.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#232

Post by ggm »

aaronmdjones wrote: post #207
ggm wrote: post #109

What is the balance of experience between touch, aural/tactile/visua push response on screens, and actual physical buttons which go "click" and light up? I think the place we know most about this, is the Aircraft space. I am interested because I used to live in 'press it go click' world and now live half-blessed by a car with some controls which are real and a lot of controls which are soft, and I have to say I don't…

Older aircraft have the Flight Engineer position, which is the 3rd or 4th person in the Flight Deck. Modern aircraft do not need flight engineers because of the improvements we've been able to make to aircraft reliability, longevity, and ease of use; but at the time, they were worth their weight in gold and absolutely essential for any flight. Current-generation Boeing aircraft have what's called a "moonlit" configur…

This is "we thought about it, and decided to keep real mechanical tactile switches" but also "behind the scenes, these may be like the apple mouse: there's a widgit to go "THUMP" when you press it"

Given how many aircraft are fly-by-wire the physical tactile component of a lot of these must be notional, except for the ones which have fuses next to them and are literal cut-outs. You have a switch with a bump, which goes click. The valve 20m away quietly gets turned on by an actuator. The valve completes a circuit to a sensor, which sends a databus signal and the light in your tactile switch comes on.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#233

Post by vanilla_nut »

denkmoon wrote: post #222
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well here's a North American company clearly not willing to pay competitive software engineering rates even within the continent, and trying to take advantage of sub-regional low rates. Like, they're not in Toronto, but just west of it, and companies there are paying less, so, hey, they should pay less, too, right? You get what you pay for. This is what happens when HR drones are allowed to do naive "compensation ran…

>Companies like this will be in real trouble if remote work continues to be a thing. They better hope it doesn't. Would be much healthier for humanity overall if these poorly managed companies, you know, just died from their poor management.

If recent US policy is any indication, it's far more likely that we'll give them billions of dollars of direct subsidy in a misguided attempt "protect American interests."

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#234

Post by ghaff »

vel0city wrote: post #108
twblalock wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What good is tactile feedback when you have no idea what you're adjusting without staring at the screen? This is what people don't understand about touchscreen vs dial-based UIs. One is not safer than the other if they both require you to take your eyes off the road and look at a screen! If car makers want to have a button control a feature, then they should simply make a button that controls that feature. Cars wor…

The idea with the touchscreen controls is that the driver shouldn't really be using the touchscreen at all while driving except as a quick reference to the map. You're not supposed to be using the screen to adjust your media while driving, there's steering wheel and voice controls. You're not supposed to be adjusting the climate controls while moving, auto climate should just handle it. Why would I want to be distrac…

Honestly, the broader problem that isn't directly car-related is that voice control doesn't generally work as an alternative to punching buttons (whether virtual or physical) and looking at a screen. You can reasonably do some fairly standard tasks using CarPlay such as answering the phone.

But you mostly have to have pre-setup entertainment options, for example. Not that this is really a new thing. People fiddled with radio stations while driving more than they probably should have back in the day.

And, yes, I do need to adjust climate controls now and then while driving although my vehicle does have fairly reasonable physical controls for that so it's not appreciably distracting.

Navigation systems themselves are something of a distraction although I'd guess that overall less so than glancing down at a map or directions on your lap.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#235

Post by brigade »

greesil wrote: post #227
boc wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite the general online sentiment, it's important to realize that the average American makes an absurd amount of money compared to their global peers. Even adjusting for PPP and other factors, average disposable household income for the US - a nation of 340M people - blows the doors off Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, etc. [1]. What's more though, median disposable income per capita ALSO places the US at the very…

And yet, I can't afford a house. I guess I'll go buy another Tesla.

As much as you can't afford a home in the US, you wouldn't be able to afford to buy a home in Europe even harder.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#236

Post by usefulcat »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #225
denkmoon wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Companies like this will be in real trouble if remote work continues to be a thing. They better hope it doesn't. Would be much healthier for humanity overall if these poorly managed companies, you know, just died from their poor management.

Or at least outsourced the software engineering to companies that would do a proper job of it.

Which would probably still cost more than what they’re willing to pay, assuming that (cost) is indeed the problem.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#237

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

CharlesW wrote: post #167
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand the large screen, but really, it should just be a normal external screen your phone can output to.

> I can understand the large screen, but really, it should just be a normal external screen your phone can output to. CarPlay is so good (and far safer) because it doesn't just mirror your phone's landscape view, but presents a driving-specific experience. Not-mirroring has another advantage in that your phone can still be used (by a passenger, of course) to do whatever while CarPlay continues to do its thing.

Can’t you just add a “driving mode” that changes the view or displays a different view to the phone?

If you externalise the smarts, all you need is external input and output support which all exists. Then any car can have better GPS.

This way, I need a car that specifically has this extra cruft and probably can’t get upgrades easily. It’s the car equivalent to a smart TV.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#238

Post by ghaff »

Barrin92 wrote: post #157
kortilla wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re distracted by adjusting the temperature you shouldn’t be driving at all.

as soon as you're taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel to look at or touch anything else you are distracted by definition, half a second is the difference between breaking fast enough to not kill someone in an accident. The only people who shouldn't be driving are the people not aware of that fact.

Which people obviously do all the time to glance at their nav system just as in past times they'd have done to look at a map or written directions.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#239

Post by dognotdog »

karamanolev wrote: post #78
genocidicbunny wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Turing the wheel unpredictably selects objects on the screen, forcing you to keep your eyes off the road while you keep turning the wheel until the item you need is selected. You shouldn't need to do anything requiring the wheel while you're driving though. All the controls that you would want to have accessible while you're driving are physical (climate control, basic media/phone controls.) For everything else you…

Yet, it's not what people are doing. The UIs of cars and other objects should take into account how they're going to be used, not how they are designed to be used. It's been proven again and again that you can only marginally educate or tell people how to behave. It's better to make a system that is safe 7/10 in real world usage, instead of one designed for 9/10, but actually getting 5/10.

I'd claim things are more nuanced. There are many reasons why UIs in many places, not just cars, suck. In cars, wether warranted or not, there is also pressure from legal to err on the side of building a cludge that is unassailable vs. a smooth user experience that could be grounds for a class action because it doesn't make enough of an effort to discourage dangerous user behavior.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#240

Post by ghaff »

bluGill wrote: post #223
elzbardico wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually me an my wife take turns driving. And we have a tacit agreement that the passenger control this kind of stuff. So, if I am driving, I ask my wife to set a destination on the GPS, play some music, change the temperature, and when she is driving I become the navigator/flight-engineer. Having those controls in the wheel would be incredibly annoying for us.

The controls should not be visible to the driver. Move that touch screen over to the navigators seat and make it nice and convient for them to use. A little angle to the driver can't see it at all would be good. The driver should have limited controls, all physical, and all ergonomicly designed to be easy to find. Even programming your phone GPS while moving should require the navigator to hit accept. Screens for the…

Realistically, however, there often is no navigator so reverting vehicle controls for a solo driver to the situation 10 years ago is almost certainly a non-starter. And even that long ago, it just meant people were using a smartphone instead on an in-car infotainment system.
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