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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

#601

Post by elif »

Hard disagree here.

I went from touchscreen only (model Y) to 1960's switchboard operator (audi Q6) for a trip helping my family and it drove me insane.

The number of button presses, light illumination meanings, automatic modes I had to learn to simply turn off the air conditioning was infuriating. To change the music or interact with navigation I had to click a spinny wheel and turn it like I was tabbing thru options with a keyboard.

When I picked up my father and got to swap back cars, it was like a Steve Jobs moment when I voice command "open glovebox" and "i'm cold" or simply rearrange the destinations with a finger drag. I'm pretty sure they are buying a Tesla next.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#602

Post by sublinear »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #189

I wouldn't mind touchscreens as long as these imbecile developers would strictly limit UI response time to under 16ms. In no world where you're barrelling 3,000+ lbs of mass at tens of miles an hour should you be distracted by some moronic app or subsystem failing to respond in time because it was written by under-experienced software "engineers." Any software running as a part of a motor vehicle should be federally…

I agree, but blaming the devs is completely incorrect. In any nontrivial piece of sotware most of the latency is added by synchronous network requests. I'll leave it to your imagination what those are for and whether it was the devs who wanted it or the PMs and execs.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#603

Post by eptcyka »

elif wrote: post #601

Hard disagree here. I went from touchscreen only (model Y) to 1960's switchboard operator (audi Q6) for a trip helping my family and it drove me insane. The number of button presses, light illumination meanings, automatic modes I had to learn to simply turn off the air conditioning was infuriating. To change the music or interact with navigation I had to click a spinny wheel and turn it like I was tabbing thru option…

Bad UX without touchscreens doesn't warrant viability of touchscreens in cars.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#604

Post by ta1243 »

hnick wrote: post #513
Xelbair wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not about 'looking and pushing' the button. It's about stateful UI. physical layout of buttons is usually stateless - press button thing turns on, press it again it turns off. You don't need to think in which menu you are, and where to press, while driving.

Compounding this on a touchscreen is slippage. Cars can be bumpy. If you slip and hit the wrong control it can take an unacceptably large amount of concentration (given what you are meant to be actually concentrating on when driving) to work out where you are now, how to get back to where you are, and try to do the original thing again. A few seconds of confusion and distraction is more than enough to kill. Tactile b…

> or settings which I'd generally only check when parked.

I think this is key. I'm perfectly happy to adjust the frequency/folume of the rear reverse sensors, or the date/time format, or whatever, via a touchscreen.

Stuff I use while driving though is a different thing completely, that's where physical buttons come in.

Fortunatly my Skoda meets this - temperature, volume, radio channel etc all on buttons.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#605

Post by Lolaccount »

tomashm wrote: post #392
adrr wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know that would be helpful. I hate digging through my Tesla’s menus to control the wipers even though it is very responsive.

In newer software versions, you should be able to control the wipers with the left scrolling wheel, right after you have activated them with the push button on the left arm. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modelx/en_us/GUID-A5C33F3... .

Small consolation ... but it's no substitute for poor design.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#606

Post by LandR »

checkyoursudo wrote: post #393

With. A. Passion. Other touch screens (or similar things) I dislike: - the controls on my stove top - the controls on my monitor - the controls on my tv - the controls on my thermostat - probably more All of these should have physical buttons for the limited number of functions required. Or, at a minimum, for navigation and confirmation. Touch screens there suck. My wife's car has a touch screen on the control/infota…

My new washing machine has touch buttons to start it and pause it.

I normally have to push start a few times to get it to actually start, and there is no feedback that I've even pushed start at all. So I don't know if it's just not registered the push, or it has and it's just not doing anything.

It's so dumb, I don't know what is wrong with a physical button.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#608

Post by RegW »

justapassenger wrote: post #82
testfoobar wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch screens are also pretty terrible for older people. Vision and fine motor skills both degenerate. Without tactile feedback, it is hard for older people to determine if they've successfully clicked on something. Gestures can be tough to teach and successfully implement without error.

I’m not THAT old (although grew up without touchscreens) and touch screens are horrible when I’m in motion in the car. No chance in hell I’m able to hit what I what when there’s even a slightest minor bump. And with the state of USA highways it means - all the time. Especially, as designers think it’s cool to have tiny buttons on the touch screen.

I am that old, and I don't need to be in motion to hit the issue. Tactile buttons feedback through your finger that your finger is indeed in the correct location, and when you get that positive feedback you click the button.

Touchscreens don't provide this. If your finger comes into contact in the wrong place, the wrong thing happens. So your first contact must be absolutely correct.

Your arm is extended. Your hand/finger partially blocks your view of the button. Your depth perception of that flat plane with fluid reference points is not good. Bang! The wrong app completely opens.

Now you have to spend time dealing with the consequences of that your error, even if you don't feel inclided to try again. Instead of rewinding to re-listen to the last 20 seconds of a podcast because traffic demanded your attention, you are now listening to the radio and have set an alarm for midnight.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#609

Post by BrandoElFollito »

I do not think drivers hate touchscreens. I think drivers hate idiot developers and their idiot management.

First the touchscreens' esthetics are in the 90's.

Then the touchscreens' performance are in the 90's

Third the management strategy is to piss off the drivers by shoving down their throats the two above.

I dream of a car where I (that is me personally) can set up what I want to see.

I do not give a fuck about the temperature of the engine or my EV efficiency. I want a huge digital speed meter and a smaller distance I can drive with my current fioul. And that's all.

Is it that difficult to provide a default setup and then let the user choose what they want to see on their reactive touchscreen?

Toyota managed in my RAV4 to create the dashboard I hate most, with passion.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#610

Post by jml78 »

satellite2 wrote: post #571
zamnos wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do auto insurance rates on touch screen cars show this to be the case? Cars with touch screens have been around long enough that they should have data, and consequently be charging more for insurance on those cars if they are is that is indeed the case.

They are. But car with touchscreen are more powerful which is always linked to higher fees. So hard to say which feature causes what.

I owned a new honda civic before I bought a Tesla model 3.

It is only one data point but my insurance went down when I got the Tesla.

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