Live data from Hacker News

Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

thedrive.com

411–420 of 491 posts

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#411
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironic, I'm /completely/ the opposite. My radio cannot connect and start playing music fast enough. The radio stations in my area are all total and utter shit, and I'd rather listen to white noise while I wait for the BT to connect and start playing my music. I find it difficult to even listen to a radio station for a minute these days. It's now permanently set to a dead frequency. My old car had an aftermarket head…

I like to listen to podcasts or audiobooks while I drive. Usually I do this through Bluetooth. Occasionally I want to use Android Auto so that the maps will show up on the car's screen. I have to plug in my phone through USB to make this happen. The audiobook will now play over the USB connection. When I disconnect from USB or when I turn off the car, it switches from my audibook to SiriusXM ads. At twice the volume.…

See my comment above about the aux jack.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#412
post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strangely, Does Hyundai/Kia have some difference wrt engines in US and India? Never heard anyone complain about engine in India even after 62k miles, they are quite popular among taxi drivers, who definitely stress the engine more than enough. Indian roads can be quite punishing on cars.

Taxis are one of the least stressed engines as they stay at operating temperature for most of their life, more so when they are run 24/7 with multiple shifts.

In Indian traffic cars are constantly revving and slowing down. And Indian taxis are worst maintained. We don't have regulations enforcing it. And the driving of the majority of taxis is also haphazard. I'm not aware of any ideal taxi situation that you're speaking of in the Indian context.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#413

Both buttons and touchscreens have a place in a car... especially ergonomic buttons in just the right place and a well made touchscreen gui. All the things that the driver might ever do during driving (blinkers, lights, radio, ac,...) should always be controlled by a physical button, that is easy to find by touch only, even in the dark. On the other hand, reseting TPMS (air pressure system) sensors, looking at servic…

Auto-playing ads on car touchscreens? Is that really a thing?!

I drive pretty old used cars so I don't know what newer ones are like

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#414

Both buttons and touchscreens have a place in a car... especially ergonomic buttons in just the right place and a well made touchscreen gui. All the things that the driver might ever do during driving (blinkers, lights, radio, ac,...) should always be controlled by a physical button, that is easy to find by touch only, even in the dark. On the other hand, reseting TPMS (air pressure system) sensors, looking at servic…

to me the generation of cars roughly 5-10y old fits exactly that bill. They usually have touchscreen, often even Android/iOS integration and they have all physical controls still (except for Teslas). And with the right drivetrain you can find ones that are at or above 43mpg on the highway. For daily commuters I guess it's better to have an electric, but for my needs (weekend driving/shopping runs) it's perfect.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#415
post #413

Both buttons and touchscreens have a place in a car... especially ergonomic buttons in just the right place and a well made touchscreen gui. All the things that the driver might ever do during driving (blinkers, lights, radio, ac,...) should always be controlled by a physical button, that is easy to find by touch only, even in the dark. On the other hand, reseting TPMS (air pressure system) sensors, looking at servic…

Auto-playing ads on car touchscreens? Is that really a thing?! I drive pretty old used cars so I don't know what newer ones are like

Coming soon to a for near you :)

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-billboard-ad-patent-sys...

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#416
post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strangely, Does Hyundai/Kia have some difference wrt engines in US and India? Never heard anyone complain about engine in India even after 62k miles, they are quite popular among taxi drivers, who definitely stress the engine more than enough. Indian roads can be quite punishing on cars.

Taxis are one of the least stressed engines as they stay at operating temperature for most of their life, more so when they are run 24/7 with multiple shifts.

That only matters if your design isn't garbage to begin with.

If you have some Toyota 22RE-esque timing component eating abomination or some Navistar 6.0-esque headgasket eating abomination the thing won't last long enough for normal wear to dominate the equation.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A voice command takes longer to execute than a press or flick of a finger IMO. It would be interesting to see what the cognitive loads are between a physical movement and a set of voice commands. I remember reading a study that found talking to another person in the vehicle was the equivalent to having had a certain amount of alcohol. I'm sure there's a difference between voice.commands and conversation, but interest…

Voice commands are good because you can keep both your eyes and hands on the task of driving without interruption. Having an actual conversation with someone is much more distracting because you need to listen to them, preserve social norms, etc.

Until the voice command fails and you have to resort to digging through a touchscreen UI.

For whatever reason, my wife's voice does not do well with voice control (despite being an American with an average American accent). And I have a slight Scottish accent (pronounce my Rs and /hw/) which, despite being mild (lived in the US for nearly 40 years) still causes trouble with voice control.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#418

When researching family cars recently, I literally avoided the Honda CR-V just because the AC was controlled via the touch screen. There's a "Climate" button, which brings up a screen on the display where you can turn the aircon on/off, up/down, etc. It's just horrendous. Give me my dials. My worst gripe - which all modern cars have - is the aggressive bluetooth auto-connect. If my wife takes the car, it will automat…

Bluetooth auto-connect somewhat makes sense, reasoned from principles.

If you want audio to start magically playing in the car, and the car is often turned off...

You can't have the phone connect to it. Otherwise it would continually have to poll for a car, which would burn power.

Ergo, you have to have the car initiate the connection, which should happen when the car turns on.

Now, you could either have a "Confirm connect?" every time that happens or you could have it auto-reconnect.

In most circumstances, "Car-initiated, auto-reconnecting Bluetooth" is preferable to the alternatives.

Even if it does have bizarre and annoying UX failure modes.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#419
post #75

Wonderful. I recently rented a model 3 and found it incredibly frustrating that it required multiple touches to adjust settings that would be a single button press on a more traditional car. Don’t even get me started on the windshield wipers - a total nightmare in winter storms and located on the left stalk? These are safety concerns. As long as humans are operating these dangerous vehicles, I vote for fewer driver d…

Is (among other things) having windshield wipers control on left stalk being a dangerous thing? That cars I had in other countries (with opposite side driving) had signals on right & wipers on left stalk.

Probably not. You'd figure it out pretty quickly the first time you need to go around a corner or change lanes.

FWIW, ever car I've ever owned or driven in the US has left stalk for turn signals and right stalk for wipers. Headlights are often on the left stalk as well, but sometimes a physical on the dash (usually to the left of steering wheel).

Regardless, I have a strong dislike of touchscreen UIs in cars. Fine for the main radio, as long as I have physical controls on the steering wheel. But for open the globe box, or adjust the seat, or changing the wiper speed? GTFO, that's asinine.

Re: Hyundai promises to keep buttons in cars

#420

Reading the comments here remind me of the days when the iPhone was first released to the masses and everyone was like 'oh no i want my physical keyboard it feels good'. Good times looking back. Any button not on the steering wheel will require you to look away from the road, even for a split second. In that split second something can jump out in front of you. You can blame the touch screen or other things, shoot may…

As multiple people here have pointed out, they can operate the button interfaces on their cars by touch alone. My car only has knobs and buttons and I can operate the heating, radio, cabin lighting and hazards just by knowing what the control feels like.
Post reply on HN