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Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

drive.com.au

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Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#231

Post by Conlectus »

aenis wrote: post #47

'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 thing that everyone always misses in these conversations is that screens over buttons is a cost cutting measure, not a first-principles design decision.

It means the UI can be designed and developed mostly independently of the physical controls, which helps reduce rework. I also expect it reduces costs for manufacture and assembly.

I’m in favour of more physical controls, but it surprises me that this rarely comes up. I suppose “people are idiots” is a more appealing explanation.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#232

Post by bigstrat2003 »

tedggh wrote: post #193
aenis wrote: post #47

'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…

People already keep their eyes on their phones when driving, so it’s not like car screens are introducing a new hazard. If anything, they are an opportunity to replace some of the functions of the phone and make them safer, understanding most people will never exercise safe driving habits.

The answer to "some drivers are bad, and look at their phones while driving" is not "let's give them a different screen to look at". It is to take away the driver's licenses of people who are stupid enough to look at phones while driving.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#233

Post by rossjudson »

mihaelm wrote: post #210
nokeya wrote: post #6

I’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.

I have an Audi Q7 and a model X. Don't miss the physical controls of the Q7 at all. Given a choice between Tesla software and Android Auto, I'll take Tesla's.

Then again, I'm someone who likes the yoke steering, and invested a few weeks acclimating to the lack of steampunk turn stalks.

For physical controls, it always comes down to "What did you want to do?" There are very few that are actually needed.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#234

Post by NetMageSCW »

donkyrf wrote: post #42
_the_inflator wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite China, IT development is a complete disaster in Germany. All car so called German car manufacturers UX/UI is horrible to say the least. Dieter Rams is the only UX/UI designer, who became famous - outside of Germany. Hartmut Esslinger kind of popularized DR, what an irony, that two Germans made history, but of course not in Germany and even in Germany DR wasn't well known. Braun was a brand and statement, but…

My 992.2 has AA/CarPlay, and an outstanding user interface, with a nice mix of configurable displays and physical buttons. Fairly certain it is a top 100 product in it's market.

Yes, I think Porsche has a responsive excellent design with their infotainment / button combination though recent SUV / sedan models have moved to capacitive buttons and more touch screen controls and worsened the experience.

To be fair, it is outsourced to Harmon/Kardon.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#235

Post by jmp1062 »

maybe i'm old school but i hate the ipad like interfaces in cars... especially if i'm trying to change settings while driving. i suppose we're very close to all of that just being voice activated but still this is a win in my book...

also while i'm ranting can we teach people about regenerative braking? every uber or lyft driver that has an EV actually uses the brakes and i'm getting whiplash every time we have to stop.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#236

Post by bigstrat2003 »

WalterBright wrote: post #151
SauntSolaire wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you're young? Finger capacitance can reduce quite significantly with age.

You can tell that most touchscreen interfaces are designed by young people.

Not just young people; young people who have lived in a high tech bubble their entire lives. Most designers are completely out of touch with their users these days.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#238

Post by ajross »

aenis wrote: post #213
ajross wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So screens can replace "mirrors" and not "buttons"? Seems like excuse-making to me. I repeat: I'd prefer to see more analysis and less sloganeering, especially where you "assume that was obvious".

My argument was to keep the attention of the driver on the road. To that end, I don't care whether I am looking at a physical mirror or a screen that replaced one (as long as its good, high res, low latency screen) - I am looking in the direction I am driving and focused on steering the vehicle. For the same reason I don't mind (in fact, I appreciate) the silent helpers such as ABS, ESP, 4x4 and so on - all of those…

> I am looking in the direction I am driving

Unless you're using a backup camera...

I mean, I know that this seems like a pedantic and silly quip, but the point is that doing actual safety analysis requires careful thought and precise decisionmaking, and the stuff you're doing here is exactly the opposite of that. Slow down, say what you mean, measure what you think is "obvious", and be prepared to be slightly wrong on the margins.

And to repeat my second point: the industry as a whole has been getting inexorably safter on a decades-scale trend. So my prior is to treat arguments of the form "The Auto Industry Sucks And Is Making Everything Unsafe" as ill-founded absent real evidence to the contrary.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#239

Post by beachy »

mihaelm wrote: post #210
nokeya wrote: post #6

I’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.

Anyone exec wanting to move away from touchscreens and back to buttons would have flashbacks to Steve Balmer mocking the new iPhone and stabbing his fingers at the touch panel and making a fool of himself for eternity.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#240

Post by ajross »

roughly wrote: post #221
ajross wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So screens can replace "mirrors" and not "buttons"? Seems like excuse-making to me. I repeat: I'd prefer to see more analysis and less sloganeering, especially where you "assume that was obvious".

No, screens cannot replace mirrors, but we’re doing it anyway.

There are literally thousands of people alive today who would have been killed absent backup cameras. This point is laughably wrong.
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