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 operations should be the ultimate goal, that's what we had with analog.
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…
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.
My 2004 5 series BMW had this (it was called iDrive). A command style knob that could move on an axis of sorts (up and down, left, right). You could also press it in. I absolutely hated it.
That was among the first generations of iDrive. I was (and to some extent still am) skeptical, particularly given how overwhelmingly negative the reception was at the time. But, FWIW, the motoring press was later – as BMW apparently improved the system significantly – swayed to accept, and sometimes even praise, the iDrive. At least from about 2015-20, or possibly as early as 2010-15.
Can't give any personal evaluation, as I've never (AFAICR) driven a BMW.
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…
I agree. I don't want a "smart" knob. I'm dreading going car shopping sometime this next year. I anticipate having to rule out a large pool of cars to keep my controls navigable without looking.
My wife bought a new car with fully digital display a year ago. For me, I got a 2013 low mileage dumb car. Couldn't find anything new that I liked with my preferred level of UX technology (or lack of). I drive both equally and even a year later, I hate operating anything in her car. Once you get it dialed in, not too bad, but there's constantly edge cases of things you do infrequently and really have to search around for how to change a setting. The dealership always changes something when we take it for regular maintenance and it's always a PITA to figure it out how to get it back to normal. Also, it seems impossible to set a default setting for many things. There's a feature that activates anti-glare on the rear mirrors, for me it makes driving at night impossible, and I can't set and forget my preference. Every time the car starts my preference is overridden. It's maddening. The only saving grace is this feature only requires 2 clicks on the rear mirror (1 click of 2 physical buttons). I've memorized those clicks and can do them without having to go through screen clicks and hamburger menu hell.
Controls that require a feedback loop have more cognitive overhead than controls you can just use “blindly” (this includes not having to check for haptic feedback to test what mode it’s in) and from pure muscle memory. For example, you learn that your preferred volume when driving on a highway is at (say) the two o’clock position, and with time you’ll blindly turn the knob to that position without even consciously th…
Right. This "smart" knob is symmetrical, with no pointer that you can feel before turning the knob. So it's hard to use without looking. This is inferior to a simple mechanical knob.
It's not infinitely rotatable, though, like some knobs are; TFA mentioned a 270° rotation range. So a pointer “beak” (or some other haptically recognisable asymmetry) should be easy to add.
Yeah, this article really nailed it. I totally agree about the touchscreen thing in cars. It's made driving so much more distracting, honestly. The point about haptic feedback and having a clear layout is so important. Good to see that some companies like Jaguar and Skoda are still getting it right with actual buttons and knobs! More should definitely follow their lead.
As I get older the one thing these designer overlook is aging eyesight. My Honda has decent controls but the small display (like on these knobs) is very difficult to see sitting still. At night, while driving - it's impossible. The icons are tiny. Given the size of the current screens in cars - that's a lot of real estate for knobs. Use it.
Given the way things are designed I feel I cannot emphasize your point on aging eyesight enough. Aging eyesight is a thing that affects everyone ! [0] If you are in your twenties and designing things to be seen, invest in your own future as well as a large demographic that usually has more money... [0] https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-health-for-life/adult-v...
> Aging eyesight is a thing that affects everyone!
Given the way things are designed I feel I cannot emphasize your point on aging eyesight enough. Aging eyesight is a thing that affects everyone ! [0] If you are in your twenties and designing things to be seen, invest in your own future as well as a large demographic that usually has more money... [0] https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-health-for-life/adult-v...
> Aging eyesight is a thing that affects everyone! If you're lucky.
:-)
From a design point of view, everyone you care about. Dead people won't use your carefully designed widget.
My 2004 5 series BMW had this (it was called iDrive). A command style knob that could move on an axis of sorts (up and down, left, right). You could also press it in. I absolutely hated it.
That was among the first generations of iDrive. I was (and to some extent still am) skeptical, particularly given how overwhelmingly negative the reception was at the time. But, FWIW, the motoring press was later – as BMW apparently improved the system significantly – swayed to accept, and sometimes even praise, the iDrive. At least from about 2015-20, or possibly as early as 2010-15. Can't give any personal evaluati…
Small review, 2013 BMW 335xi (drove for a test drive).
Loved iDrive. Remained my benchmark for car infotainment UI for 10+ years. The main thing, you could DRVIE the car, aggressively, and give commands to infotainment without missing a beat.