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The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

theturnsignalblog.com

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Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#211

Post by d1sxeyes »

MontgomeryPi2 wrote: post #179
d1sxeyes wrote: post #162

One of my favourite dash controls ever was the Saab “Night” mode. Very simple, one press and all of the backlight illumination was turned off except for the absolutely critical controls (speed, etc.). Super useful for reducing distractions while driving at night. Most of the night driving I do today is polluted by light splashing off a central LED on the main console, or dynamic instrumentation on the dash itself. Ma…

...and the Saab cup holder. Not a control per se but always fascinates the odd passenger. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjVN6p8VkPM

Ahhh memories!

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#212

Post by groby_b »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #174
groby_b wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that was the unsafest thing car manufacturers did. Jeep, for example, has just discovered a predilection for random full-screen alerts with a blaring alarm sound, if, for example, they magically inferred there's a tow-truck somewhere. (There's about a 50% chance you'll encounter a tow truck in the next 10 minutes, at best) This is great if, say, you're three hours into a night drive, all alone on the road, and…

Why a tow truck?

I literally do not know.

I assume it is because tow trucks are large, and will be slow moving when they merge/tow. I can totally imagine the meeting that took that argument and lead to that feature.

But I'm fairly certain that if you're so distracted you don't see the giant tow truck, a message on your entertainment screen isn't going to help.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#213

Post by gertlex »

ssl-3 wrote: post #121
gertlex wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a reasonable point. Too bad an auto mode for my music and podcasts (of varying volume; also varying with whether I have a passenger) is probably not a thing... On the other hand, my sense with how I use temperature control in my car is that most of my interactions are (a) set mode at start of driving (b) incrementally turn the temperature dial a notch or two without looking at it.

My current daily vehicle does a pretty fine job of figuring out what mode I want for HVAC. Sometimes, I do mash the defroster button when weather commands warm/dry air on the windshield and it's easy enough to find that with muscle memory. Otherwise, in normal seasonal weather, it works well and I don't change modes or temperature. Windows up, down, hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, dark, whatever -- it all works about the s…

Ok, that's pretty neat sounding. I'm behind the times with a 15 year old Saturn that's fully manual controls (except headlights turning on).

My temperature adjustments are the old fashioned "what temperature air to blow" and not "I want this end result temperature", so my previous comment is a whole different paradigm. Thinking about it, with more recent rentals, I haven't messed with temperature controls much either.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#214

Post by kdmtctl »

hadlock wrote: post #208
kdmtctl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you ever tried to use the rotary dial for text input? I gave up immediately. The car has a regular screen regular, no touch. Something is good only when balanced.

Only twice in seven years did voice control not work for me. I can't recall the last time bmw didn't have touchscreen in a car but it predates 2014

I haven't had many, so I do have a touch screen. But I've tried the rotary input on a rental 2 series that had a dial but no touch screen, and I had to use the GPS.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#215

Post by ninalanyon »

nottorp wrote: post #144
dghlsakjg wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 1997 Lexus has a knob that controls the digital climate control. Except that instead of a spinny position encoder, they used a knob with stops so you have tactile feedback for when the temperature is all the way up or down. This is the kind of detail that I love about a well engineered car.

That's how the knobs normally work. And the original poster describes how "automatic a/c" or "climate controls" have always worked in cars, you set a target temp and they handle fan speed and air temperature. Why does the article want to make a multifunction dial with no tactile feedback? Have they only ever driven a Tesla?

The two thumb wheels on the steering wheel of my 2015 Tesla Model S 70D most definitely have tactile feedback. They can be 'programmed' to control various things such as media selection, cabin temperature, open/close the roof, etc. Unfortunately Tesla lost the plot with the Model 3 by removing most of the physical controls and then turned the Model S into a large version of the Model 3 by getting rid of the portrait orientation 17 inch screen and replacing it with the landscape 15 inch one from the Model 3.

I've rented a BMWs a few times in the past and they have a clever multifunction knob cum joystick on the centre console but it's a bloody nuisance to use compared to a touchscreen in my opinion

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#216

Post by genewitch »

msrenee wrote: post #196
residentraspber wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found one good solution to this problem (for AC, at least): go for a car with a good "auto" mode! I hardly ever touch my AC, I just leave it on auto and the car does the rest to get it to the right temperature as quickly as possible. I suspect this is what most automakers think the real solution should be, just make it easy enough to set a temp and leave the rest to the computer.

So yesterday was a windchill of -5F or something equally miserable. I spent about 20 minutes out in it and then drove home. When I got into the car, the heat felt perfect on full blast as I shivered and thawed. About 15 minutes into my 30 minute drive, my body temperature caught up and I had to turn the heat down to low as I was getting too warm. A couple months from now, I'll have the same situation, except it will…

A lot of these solutions that people are mentioning, or the types of cars with climate controls they like, seem to be posting from places like San Diego or the California Bay area as opposed to places like, you know, the Midwest or the South or the Pacific Northwest or, you know, New England.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#217

Post by genewitch »

yial wrote: post #191
nottorp wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe in California :) In other places you need defrost, windshield defog etc. I regularly cross our (small) mountains on holidays and that means temperature and humidity outside can change every 20 min on a trip as you go from a depression to a mountain pass and back to a different depression with a different weather. The target temperature control stays unmoved, but i randomly have to turn on and off the defog, for…

Newer cars read the outside temperature, and adjust the auto. I don’t know if they sense condensation on the inside. I know that they sense water on the outside to automatically engage wipers. I have found even the best ones though, to get the rear defrost right, but fail to get front defrost correct in high humidity conditions that aren’t just normal rain. (Very dense fog, snow, sleet ).

Subaru front facing cameras just shut off the eye sight system when the window fogs. The defrost selection is a button, which means it's computer controlled.

In theory the computer knows when it needs defrost.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#218

Post by genewitch »

drdude wrote: post #199
mihaaly wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gave up on having decent and reliable design of controls in cars. Even if someone would come up with something having minimal (preferably zero) cognitive disruption that is easy to learn and used to, the constant self-forced and determined nervous pressure of providing new, and new, and very new, and revolutionary, and new revolutionary, and disruptive, will make me re-learn whatever new idea is forced on me with a…

I gave up on cars in the US for few years now... I just bought a hyper electric escooter and use it to travel 60+/- miles per charge... no gas, no insurance, no maintenance (only the rare flats and brake pad changes), and no plate and safety/emission... etc etc. Buy once, use till the battery dies... rinse and repeat... gear is inconvenient though but can put up with it.

Where I'm at there's a cross on the side of the highway every quarter mile or so to mark where people who decided to not use a car to commute that day are commemorated.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#219

Post by genewitch »

conductr wrote: post #81
xp84 wrote: post #3

I applaud the author for putting thought into how to design digital controls, in contrast to the "just put whatever garbage on a touch screen" strategy most carmakers do today. However, I still question the benefit of this complex, modal control (you have to press a single knob to "cycle between" multiple modes). My ancient, 2016 car features three knobs. This luxury allows me to, without looking, adjust any of three…

> "check what mode it's in, tap, look at the tiny screen, tap again if necessary" This is my concern as well. It's a perceived improvement in UI but still a loss over analog UX. I'll end up cranking the knob and wondering why my radio channels are rapidly changing when I wanted to adjust the volume. You're almost forced into retaining state of your knobs in your head if you want to do anything eyes-free. Eyes-free op…

My Lexus has climate control up down and track selection up down in the same column within inches of eachother and I have to look every time. Even the fact there's a knob next to the track ones...

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#220

Post by ssl-3 »

gertlex wrote: post #213
ssl-3 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My current daily vehicle does a pretty fine job of figuring out what mode I want for HVAC. Sometimes, I do mash the defroster button when weather commands warm/dry air on the windshield and it's easy enough to find that with muscle memory. Otherwise, in normal seasonal weather, it works well and I don't change modes or temperature. Windows up, down, hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, dark, whatever -- it all works about the s…

Ok, that's pretty neat sounding. I'm behind the times with a 15 year old Saturn that's fully manual controls (except headlights turning on). My temperature adjustments are the old fashioned "what temperature air to blow" and not "I want this end result temperature", so my previous comment is a whole different paradigm. Thinking about it, with more recent rentals, I haven't messed with temperature controls much either…

The older one was a 2007 Honda van -- the newer one is from 2012. I think that system was introduced in MY 2005.

Either way, it's almost certainly old enough that the patents are expired.

And I was surprised by it myself. It would have seemed like absolute wizardry to me if I knew of it back in '05.

You raise an interesting point about more-recent rentals: People don't talk much about how stuff like this works, because if it is working well then they don't need to think about it at all. They don't even need to notice it.

And it's not perfect, but it's still Really, Really Good at accomplishing that task of being out of mind.

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