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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

#131

Post by hunter2_ »

rdiddly wrote: post #128
snow_mac wrote: post #113

I like a big display with buttons on the side. I like getting to see the song name, the station and some of that digital info, I like Apple Maps on Apple car play. Those are nice features. I love the back up camera display. But I have to have a button or knob to adjust temp, audio, next track, etc... because while those things are helpful, when I'm going down the highway and I need to adjust while paying attention ju…

Yeah seems like physical controls for input, screen for output is the sweet spot.

It'll be interesting to see how Android Auto / Apple Car Play adopt physical controls, if at all. I guess at a basic level a rotary encoder could emulate a "tab" key when rotated and an "enter" key when pushed (keyboard support already exists in the mobile OS, of course). Until then, at least they have great voice input.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#132

Post by natch »

sheepscreek wrote: post #110

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.

Fortunately the wiper speed changes itself automatically, and contrary to what you may have been told by the internet, there is a hardware button that with one click brings the controls to where they can be operated without looking once you get the muscle memory. Before you get the muscle memory? Just leave them on auto. I mean, your kid is yelling. Also, auto emergency braking is fantastic.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#133

Post by ultrarunner »

rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #111
zeedude wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

From a product and even financial standpoint, the trade-off doesn’t make sense. All the litigation that could occur due to accidents caused by a less safe design plus the reputational damage that an inexcellent product could cause to the brand sounds so expensive to me.

It seems carmakers have situated themselves fairly comfortably regarding liability. If a car hits someone in "the road" the victim immediately becomes a "jay walker" and it's their fault. Otherwise the driver made a mistake. Otherwise the DOT is at fault. It's nearly impossible to blame automakers for the damage their products do.

A good example of this might be the lack of intuitive feedback regarding headlights. More and more, dash lights stay on despite exterior lights being off, giving the driver the impression that everything is normal. IIRC several countries including Canada are moving to require exterior lights to be on at all times now, but it boggles my mind that such a simple to understand phenomenon with so many straightforward solutions has to be solved through regulation instead of the automakers just, you know… doing better.

Still, despite a clear design defect and recognition by regulator agencies, no litigation is likely to occur.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#134

Post by aardvarkr »

StillBored wrote: post #120

Its just bad UI, companies in the past tested their products and solicited feedback before casting it in stone. Be that OS vendors, or car manufactures. I'm not sure where to lay the blame, but maybe a lot of it has to do with modern CAD, etc which allows most of the design to be done virtually before anyone actually tries it out. So its not just an argument of touchscreens vs buttons, its how you interact with those…

Lay the blame on the buyer. These things get focus group tested out the wazoo. They don’t care as much about the actual user experience but they sure do care about what the buyer thinks about it at the time of purchase. Unfortunately these touchscreens look incredibly slick and hyper modern in the show room, even if their usability sucks. I can’t deny that the first time that I saw the Tesla touchscreen I was super impressed and thought it looked sexy.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#135

Post by natch »

codegeek wrote: post #96

ADT the security company started doing touchscreens for their panels and I hate it so much even though I am a tech guy etc. Give me the old school physical keypad any day. I will never buy a Tesla because I sat in one with a friend and I was like no way I am relying on an entire computer/touch screen to run a car.

It doesn’t run the car at all. In fact you can reboot it while driving.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#137

Post by ghostpepper »

galangalalgol wrote: post #129
HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be best not to change what the buttons do very much. It could add unnecessary levels of confusion. "OK, I think I hit the wrong button, and now I'm not sure what mode the system is in... better look down at the controls while I drive along at 60 MPH." Maybe I'm biased. My old car has a great UI. No touchscreen, just a panel of physical knobs and buttons for media and climate control. The phone integration co…

I think mazdas all donthis and always have. They had touchscreens for abwhile and then went back to buttons around a non touch screen.

My 2020 Mazda has a touchscreen (that weirdly only accepts input below 10km/h, sorry passengers), but pretty much all the important controls are available as tactile buttons / knobs. The heads-up display is also nice for checking your speed without taking your eyes off the road

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#138

Post by cdot2 »

yellowapple wrote: post #121
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 ain't just cars. I can't think of very many people who genuinely enjoy the "smart" aspect of "smart TVs", for example; nearly everyone I know who owns a TV also owns some device that not only does everything the TV's "smarts" can do but does them consistently better and can be trivially replaced should that ever change.

In both cases it's a cost/finance reason. "Smart" TVs can profit from selling customer data and touch screen cars save some cost over tactile interfaces.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#139

Post by CamperBob2 »

nashashmi wrote: post #87

remember the time when GM said it’s not going to include CarPlay in its vehicles? And how most of hn was in revolt? here comes News that says we should get rid of touchscreens, why is hn supporting this? (For the record, I hated touch screens in cars before that was a thing and I am OK with gm removing carplay.)

They aren't removing touchscreens. They're trying to say they can do a better job at UX than Apple.

Who knows, maybe they can. But there is no reason on earth to think so.

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