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Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

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Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#101

Post by scj »

netsharc wrote: post #75
exabrial wrote: post #17

Pro Tip: So do ER Doctors and Insurance Companies. What would be best is something along the lines of a hybrid aircraft controls. See F/A-18 Hornet cockpit. Basically tactile buttons around the perimeter (maybe just side or bottom for consumer), but the options can change. Also for consumers, touchscreen should be a value-add to tactile controls, with hardware buttons as primary. So you could touch-scroll with a fing…

Cockpit UI like on the F/A-18 are called Multifunction Displays or MFDs, but wouldn't they be terrible UI as well, until you memorize the sequence of buttons to do something? You'd still have to look at the display to see what the submenu options are. Apparently they're available for flight sim games, if I had the time and know-how, it'd be neat to bu one (e.g. on AliExpress) and integrate it to my car: https://www.y…

Planes have the nice feature that 99% of the time there's nothing but air around you. With the exception of features used in a critical moment (takeoff, landing, etc), the UI of planes can afford to be far worse than a car!

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#103

Post by civilized »

zeedude wrote: post #92
flyinghamster wrote: post #39

I think one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole kerfluffle is the automakers' longstanding willingness to ignore customers and double down at any pushback. It's downright stupid that it has taken this level of screaming from customers to roll back a design choice that should never have been made.

It’s all about the bottom line. Touch screens consolidate a ton of otherwise expensive switch gear. Going back to physical knobs and buttons means going back to paying for engineering, assembling, testing, etc.

Profiting off of a less safe product that kills people could be seen as an egregious moral deficiency.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#105

Post by robocat »

aikinai wrote: post #47

Someone should do something like this smart knob[0]. It looks incredible. [0] https://youtu.be/ip641WmY4pA?t=58

Neat. Jog control knobs are great when you want fine control over a large dynamic range. They can feel wrong when used for for controlling a limited range that only needs coarse tuning. My microwave has a rotary encoder for the power level (10% to 100%) and it just feels so wrong that it doesn’t have a limit but can just keep turning (actually a slider would be a lovely UI for power level, however the knob is multi-functional and also sliders are harder to keep clean and physically reliable). My cheap stereo has a similar rotary encoder for the volume - uggggh.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#107

Post by tiedieconderoga »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #37
exabrial wrote: post #17

Pro Tip: So do ER Doctors and Insurance Companies. What would be best is something along the lines of a hybrid aircraft controls. See F/A-18 Hornet cockpit. Basically tactile buttons around the perimeter (maybe just side or bottom for consumer), but the options can change. Also for consumers, touchscreen should be a value-add to tactile controls, with hardware buttons as primary. So you could touch-scroll with a fing…

Touch screens are great for stuff that needs to be cleaned though so ER doctors are probably stuck with them.

I could be wrong, but I think I've seen removable silicone membrane covers over mechanical buttons in some pieces of medical equipment.

Silicone is inexpensive and suitable for cookware that gets exposed to heat. I bet that sort of thing could survive an autoclave.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#108

Post by Izikiel43 »

wlesieutre wrote: post #95
post_break wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a new miata, the touch screen is disabled above a certain speed. It's the worse of both worlds. Touch screen sometimes, jog wheel other times. The cursor on the screen lags so you're looking at the screen trying to figure out what is highlighted vs taking 1 second to touch the button you want. It's so bad I ripped out the screen and installed a 3rd party wireless carplay screen before the first car payment. It…

Their new models allow you to enable it all the time (CX-50, I assume CX-90 and the upcoming CX-70), which I do think is a good idea. Not even just for the driver to be touching it, but if you have a passenger you can let them deal with putting in directions or managing your audio and the wheel is a lot less obvious than a touchscreen to someone who isn't familiar with it. And as a driver, it felt like there were som…

Learn it, it takes 5 minutes, I know because I’ve done it. As a passenger dealing with the knob is easy enough, no need for touching the screen.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#109

Post by wolpoli »

hinkley wrote: post #56
linkjuice4all wrote: post #4

There was a company (Tactus Technology - now defunct) that had a "morphing" touch screen wherein the surface of the screen could be raised up to provide tactile feedback about "where" your fingers are on the screen (e.g. 'raised' keys for a keyboard [0]). I recall this being "the next big thing" in touch screens about 10 years ago but the tech didn't seem to go anywhere. For small screens such as your phone it was pr…

There were other groups that were looking at how piezoelectrics in a surface could create vibrational patterns that the finger interprets as texture. Apple even through some money at this avenue at one point but I haven't heard anything in ages. Part of the problem of textured screens is that you have to be able to touch the interface without activating anything. That's newer enough tech that the prices are probably…

Apple had that 3d touch screen that got depreciated. Perhaps people never got used to it.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#110

Post by sheepscreek »

Thank you automakers. I can’t imagine using the touchscreen to change the wiper speed while my kid is yelling in the backseat and I’m driving on the highway. And some irresponsible driver cutting in my lane while I’m doing this.

I also feel for the poor astronauts in a touchscreen only SpaceX Dragon cockpit (unless the design changed).

The feeling of being helpless, even if it’s perceived helplessness.

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