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Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

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Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#21

Post by TekMol »

nkozyra wrote: post #11
TekMol wrote: post #7

The same could be said for mobile phones. Some things can be done quicker with physical buttons. That's why people thought phones with just a screen would never become popular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U But with a screen you can do many more things.

Well phones typically have physical buttons for things you want to do quickly (volume rocker, power, camera shutter, home (sometimes) etc.) when you may not be expected to be looking at the phone. They seem to understand the split. A driver has only a few things they need to do while driving (beyond paying attention to the road) Menu diving to turn up the AC is just a fundamentally terrible idea, but car makers don't…

The driver only needs to pay attention to the road when the software can't safely handle the situation. Software can already keep the car in the lane and at a distance to the car in front. Over time the situations it can handle will become more and more.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#22

Post by TekMol »

richbell wrote: post #19
TekMol wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should you be doing many more things while having a phone call? Turns out the concept of a phone changed. It seems the concept of cars also change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X9XyHHTTQI I watched this in the morning today, and in the 38 minute ride, the guy was mostly doing other things. Recording a video etc. In the whole ride, I think he only did something related to "driving" for a few seconds.

> Should you be doing many more things while having a phone call? Turns out the concept of a phone changed. Being distracted during a phone call doesn't pose a risk of grievous injuries or death to yourself or others. Unless the nature of cars fundamentally changes, they should not under any circumstances be cool entertainment devices. Your focus should be on your mirrors and the road ahead. Full stop.

Isn't that an argument to let computers handle the driving rather than humans?

Computers are extremely good at calculating physics. And they never get distracted.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#23

Post by smt88 »

cs702 wrote: post #18

The actual "study" (really, an unscientific test) is here: https://www.vibilagare.se/english/physical-buttons-outperfor... At home we have both traditional vehicles with lots of knobs, and vehicles (Tesla) with mainly touchscreen buttons and voice commands. My personal experience: * It takes at least a few weeks to become familiar enough with the touchscreen buttons and voice commands that they become second-nature.…

I could do almost anything with the buttons in my car without looking away from the road. That's never going to be possible with a touchscreen.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#24

Post by DoingIsLearning »

everdrive wrote: post #9

As folks noted in the other thread on this topic: This is self-evident to most of the HN audience, but the more studies and more awareness is brought to this topic the likelier things are to improve.

Awareness in my view is useless because touchscreens in auto infotainment are far more visually impressive so they will always be preferred from a buyer's perspective.

What we need is to build a body of scientific evidence to support regulating Auto infotainment within some form of safety-critical guard rails.

It is obvious that touch without mechanical/haptic feedback is dangerous both in terms of decreasing eyes-on-the-road and increasing cognitive load. Mazda had it right first time around the industry needs to catch up.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#25

Post by Ma8ee »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #24
everdrive wrote: post #9

As folks noted in the other thread on this topic: This is self-evident to most of the HN audience, but the more studies and more awareness is brought to this topic the likelier things are to improve.

Awareness in my view is useless because touchscreens in auto infotainment are far more visually impressive so they will always be preferred from a buyer's perspective. What we need is to build a body of scientific evidence to support regulating Auto infotainment within some form of safety-critical guard rails. It is obvious that touch without mechanical/haptic feedback is dangerous both in terms of decreasing eyes-on…

> Awareness in my view is useless because touchscreens in auto infotainment are far more visually impressive so they will always be preferred from a buyer's perspective.

Except that the HN audience also buys cars, and prefers something else. And we aren't that unique or exceptional.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#27

Post by beardedwizard »

TekMol wrote: post #21
nkozyra wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well phones typically have physical buttons for things you want to do quickly (volume rocker, power, camera shutter, home (sometimes) etc.) when you may not be expected to be looking at the phone. They seem to understand the split. A driver has only a few things they need to do while driving (beyond paying attention to the road) Menu diving to turn up the AC is just a fundamentally terrible idea, but car makers don't…

The driver only needs to pay attention to the road when the software can't safely handle the situation. Software can already keep the car in the lane and at a distance to the car in front. Over time the situations it can handle will become more and more.

The problem is that this is not actually happening. Tesla fsd is still a huge problem.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#28

Post by mannykannot »

cs702 wrote: post #18

The actual "study" (really, an unscientific test) is here: https://www.vibilagare.se/english/physical-buttons-outperfor... At home we have both traditional vehicles with lots of knobs, and vehicles (Tesla) with mainly touchscreen buttons and voice commands. My personal experience: * It takes at least a few weeks to become familiar enough with the touchscreen buttons and voice commands that they become second-nature.…

I am OK with voice commands, though a common vocabulary for the important ones would be good (kind of like the way the main steering-column stalk controls are kind-of standardized), but the few weeks of familiarization with the touchscreen buttons is problematic, especially for anyone who frequently rents cars.

Physical buttons that cannot be located by touch are no better than touchscreen buttons, though the flexibility of touchscreen buttons probably opens up the scope for implementing them badly.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#29

Post by zackkitzmiller »

cs702 wrote: post #18

The actual "study" (really, an unscientific test) is here: https://www.vibilagare.se/english/physical-buttons-outperfor... At home we have both traditional vehicles with lots of knobs, and vehicles (Tesla) with mainly touchscreen buttons and voice commands. My personal experience: * It takes at least a few weeks to become familiar enough with the touchscreen buttons and voice commands that they become second-nature.…

ICE vs Electric has nothing to do with buttons vs touchscreens.

Re: Study finds that buttons in cars are safer and quicker to use than touchscreens

#30

Post by misnome »

PreInternet01 wrote: post #17

I would love to see some EU legislation about car dashboards. As an occasional driver of many different brands and types of vehicles, I continue to be amazed at the usability crimes being committed in the name of 'looking cool' (stated reason) as well as 'cost savings' (most likely the real reason). Any function that needs to be invoked or setting that needs to be changed by a reasonable person while driving should h…

When we bought our last car we specifically avoided touchscreen-heavy interfaces. Worst we looked at was Peugeot, which not only had framerate stuttering _on the actual digital dashboard_, the radio turned on loud for us and although the digital volume button was large, you couldn’t just hold it down - you needed to repeatedly tap/lift/tap/lift/… to move it more than just one volume notch.

We bought a (non-peugeot) car with a physical dial in the end.

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