Some years ago I owned a Mercedes CLA which had Android auto controlled using the rotating joystick with push down to select. The experience was perfect. It was fast, could be handled without any distraction, never misbehaved and never detoriated over time. Now I drive a car with touchscreen ... it's bullshit but I guess it looks fancier.
Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
251–260 of 523 posts
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#252'He also explained that "I'm a big believer in screens, because I really believe if you want to connect, you have to make the magic work behind the screen." ' I am a big believer in keeping "product people" away from UI design for dangerous machinery. The eyes and the attention of the driver should be on the road. All the audio visual noise from the car is just plain dangerous. I don't want my car to draw my attentio…
Yeah, where are they getting the customers that want the big screen?
Are these people stupid? These product people have lost touch with reality. I'm driving, I want to focus on the road, not a 39 x 6" touch screen.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#253Some years ago I owned a Mercedes CLA which had Android auto controlled using the rotating joystick with push down to select. The experience was perfect. It was fast, could be handled without any distraction, never misbehaved and never detoriated over time. Now I drive a car with touchscreen ... it's bullshit but I guess it looks fancier.
It doesn’t look fancier, it is just cheaper to manufacture than using the buttons and wheel.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#254I’m quite suspicious that they do that not because they understood or learned something, but because China requires physical buttons starting next year. And they simply don’t want to lose one of their biggest markets.
Dunno, people hate the all-touch trend so much (I've never come across someone who likes it), it surprised me it took them so long to reverse course.
It seems cyclical. Maybe the people who stand up for good UX retire and it takes a few years for a company to realize that they're going in a bad direction.
Mazda used to have do the best most user friendly controls and bragged about it as a differentiator... but the new cx-5 is a touch screen-only monstrosity
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
The low fuel, low wiper fluid, and forward collision warnings sound like they were all implemented a little clumsily. What do you think the best implementation would look like? Seems it would still have to strike a balance. It's dangerous to tell the driver they're low on fuel if we distract them. But it's also dangerous for a driver to run out of fuel on the highway if we didn't catch their attention. Also guessing…
> What do you think the best implementation would look like? Seems it would still have to strike a balance Others have explained how the old tech worked well. But let's assume new tech (touch screens), and see what can be done. There are urgent messages and non urgent messages. Non urgent messages can be shown when starting the car and requiring the driver to acknowledge them. low wiper fluid - non urgent. This could…
You reminded me of a strategy I forgot - disabling features, like no cruise control when your check engine light is on.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#256Some years ago I owned a Mercedes CLA which had Android auto controlled using the rotating joystick with push down to select. The experience was perfect. It was fast, could be handled without any distraction, never misbehaved and never detoriated over time. Now I drive a car with touchscreen ... it's bullshit but I guess it looks fancier.
The touchscreen also enables different engineering divisions to work in parallel, without waiting on one another. This drastically reduces development time. It is also cheaper to manufacture, more reliable as there are less moving parts, and reduces parts inventories at dealerships.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#257Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#258Last time it was VW bringing it back, then Mazda bringing it back, and so on. Also luxury cars will not use touch controls, thats only for cheap cars.
It appears wishful thinking that physical buttons are coming back. This would be an idea whose time has gone. It does not even matter companies that physical buttons are better, or they can offer as choice (at higher price) if someone wanted.
Like remote working, office cubicles, fast and lightweight websites, ad-free content, one time purchase software incentives of all parties are aligned against people who bear cost of these decisions. So I do not expect this to change.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#259'He also explained that "I'm a big believer in screens, because I really believe if you want to connect, you have to make the magic work behind the screen." ' I am a big believer in keeping "product people" away from UI design for dangerous machinery. The eyes and the attention of the driver should be on the road. All the audio visual noise from the car is just plain dangerous. I don't want my car to draw my attentio…
The low fuel, low wiper fluid, and forward collision warnings sound like they were all implemented a little clumsily. What do you think the best implementation would look like? Seems it would still have to strike a balance. It's dangerous to tell the driver they're low on fuel if we distract them. But it's also dangerous for a driver to run out of fuel on the highway if we didn't catch their attention. Also guessing…
Distinguish between what used to be red and amber lights.
Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons
#260EVERY designer should read the `Design of everyday things`. It teaches the basics of good interface design. I had to choose a smaller entertainment system so I can have knobs..
I gave up on "people should read things". Especially with AI now telling you how to think and what your final design should look like, I would be at least happy if they did some test of their own design and criticize it constructively.
Just put a "designer" in one of these cars and let them drive in real life situations like:
- a wasp entering your car, while you're approaching the entrance to the highway
- a child suddenly appears on the street from behind an SUV so big you could barely see the sidewalk
- a traffic light, green for you, but red for the car coming straight for your door.
We're past the "happy path". Try real life shit in your tests and maybe we'll install less screens and more sensors to actually help you drive, instead of distracting you.
Saving someone's life should be more important than a dumb undeserved promotion because you digitalized the whole car.