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European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

arstechnica.com

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Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#111

Post by yaky »

onionisafruit wrote: post #87
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are there really cars where the horn is not a physical button/ring on the steering wheel? Yes: https://antiquecarmuseumofiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/1913-F... Well ... "are" is kinda stretching it...

My grandmother used to have a car where the horn was a button at the end of one of the stems. I think it was on the same stem that controlled the wipers. I wish I remembered what kind of car it was. I think it was from the 40s.

First generation Chevy Volt (2011-2016) has a button at the end of the left stem that sounds an alternative polite (aka "pedestrian") horn. It's several very rapid, but somewhat quiet honks, that sound like "brrrap".

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#112

Post by morkalork »

bhpm wrote: post #23
cwillu wrote: post #2

A start, but not far enough: anything a driver might be reasonably expected to do while driving should have a physical control. Zero-force, zero-feedback, zero-travel controls should be illegal for such functions.

Wouldn’t it be safer to require all cars to have voice controls? Then the driver doesn’t have to move their hand off the wheel at all.

Your reflexes are faster than you can speak. At least I hope they are.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#113

Post by Izkata »

justinclift wrote: post #71
bhpm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t it be safer to require all cars to have voice controls? Then the driver doesn’t have to move their hand off the wheel at all.

"Break" "BREAK!" "BREAAK!!!!" "OH GOD PLEASE BRAKE!" crunch Problems can occur if it the voice system brakes (pun intended). ;)

Instructions followed, car is now broken.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#114

Post by dzhiurgis »

cwillu wrote: post #2

A start, but not far enough: anything a driver might be reasonably expected to do while driving should have a physical control. Zero-force, zero-feedback, zero-travel controls should be illegal for such functions.

Obvious limitation is something like Maps and media.

My guess ones that use mechanical dials (i.e. Lexus until ~ year ago) cause more distraction than touchscreen by simply being harder to use and taking more time to solve your problem.

Given how well chatgpt's voice recognition works - why not just put it on all cars!

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#115

Post by dzhiurgis »

illumin8 wrote: post #13

> Tesla is probably at greatest risk here, having recently ditched physical stalks that instead move the turn signal functions to haptic buttons on the steering wheel. I hate to break it to the article writer, but a haptic button on the steering wheel, while absolutely not easy to use, is a physical control.

> while absolutely not easy to use

Absolute majority would like to disagree.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#116

Post by maxdo »

AsmaraHolding wrote: post #92
culopatin wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experimenting? It’s been around for a long time. My 1999 Jetta had it. It’s smoother and you can control the fuel adder on throttle opening from all angles. Sure, it’s not instant, but stabbing the gas in a non dbw is not great either. In electric cars there is no other way than dbw

A 1999 Jetta doesn't have steer-by-wire. Wikipedia says the first production car to have it was the 2013 Nissan Infiniti Q50.

It had duplicated mechanics

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#118

Post by dzhiurgis »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #21

The idea that a touch screen is cheaper than buttons and that this is the driving factor I find hilarious. It's some top tier bean counter shit. I mean, yeah, sure. It'd be cheaper for my tyres to be made of wood. I don't give a toss, a new vehicle costs tens of thousands, what's $50 for a few buttons? edit: Top tier bean counter replies! Is it contagious?

Buttons are cheap to manufacture. Their design, testing, installation and support - not so much.

Re: European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

#119

Post by branko_d »

aurareturn wrote: post #4

Around 10 years ago, I started looking into buying a new car. I couldn't believe the number of cars that switched to touch controls even 10 years ago. It boggles my mind just how car makers thought it was safer/easier to have touch in a car while one is driving. I refused to buy any car that replaced physical buttons with touch controls 10 years ago and I still have this rule today. Then again, it also boggles my min…

> Then again, it also boggles my mind how car makers in the US continue to use flashing red lights as the turn signal instead of yellow lights.

Technology Connections channel had a video about that a while back:

https://youtu.be/O1lZ9n2bxWA?si=xKRgMFK1DFBrB3i0

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