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Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

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Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#851

Post by spacemadness »

Transfinity wrote: post #314
ISO-morphism wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that the engineers are competent at developing software, and think that a lot of the quality issues are due to engineers abdicating authority over the software to managers and never saying "No, adding in that feature at this point in the timeline is going to make this a steaming pile of shit and I refuse to do it and still call myself a software engineer." I get that we have families to feed, but I've seen…

There's no incentive for an engineer to do that. Saying yes and delivering crap gets you a bonus, hard truths get you shuffled around or made redundant. There's no real consequence for delivering crap, so that's what happens. Contrast this with other engineering fields, where the engineer is truly responsible for the decisions they make. My civil engineer friends face losing their licenses, fines or jail time if they…

The product team for the touchscreen control system scoffs at the engineering team’s concerns because “customers don’t care, they’re wowed by the touchscreen at the dealer lot.” It’s only after purchase that the regret sets in. Product teams know this and exploit it. The business side knows they’re selling a steaming pile to customers and don’t really care for engineering’s concerns. In most situations they’ll override these concerns forcefully. It’s a hard pill to swallow as an engineer in these companies.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#852

Post by GenerocUsername »

Rediscover wrote: post #793
Gordonjcp wrote: post #761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Turning the wipers off and on, is critical, adjusting delay timings is not You've never driven in rain, have you?

Fun story: My ex (one of my best friends), born and raised in Seattle, used to give me serious grief anytime I mention rain in Boston or NYC. She had no belief in what I would describe. Work finally ships her out to (NYC). She calls me up to say she just ran ~2meters from the hotel to the taxi and is soaking wet. She has never commented on Seattle "rain" since. REAL rain.

Seattelite here.

We get that rain too periodically.

Sesttelites complain about rain because we regularly experience 100+ days of rain.

Seattle rain is not not a storm, it's a marathon.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#853

Post by bick_nyers »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #189

I wouldn't mind touchscreens as long as these imbecile developers would strictly limit UI response time to under 16ms. In no world where you're barrelling 3,000+ lbs of mass at tens of miles an hour should you be distracted by some moronic app or subsystem failing to respond in time because it was written by under-experienced software "engineers." Any software running as a part of a motor vehicle should be federally…

Let me see if I am understanding what you are saying correctly. Docker microservices running a python backend and a JS frontend with 1000 dependencies for a web-based UI for basic car control systems?

Edit: Fuck it, let's put some AI in there too. Volume adjustments should pass through a 100M parameter model first to determine if we should change the volume and by how much.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#854

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

sroussey wrote: post #172
zamnos wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teslas have 17" screens, and no one made an automotive-grade one at that size, so it's no wonder they had problems sourcing it. But at scale, I could see the 7" properly automotive-grade screens being available for $50 when there are some availabile for less than that on Amazon.

They have double OLED (dual-layer it’s called sometimes) which is required for brightness? They are so expensive, they aren’t used anywhere else but automotive (rumors swirl about iPads using this some day). The LCDs with high nits are cheaper but only rectangular. One of the big issues is it working in 120 heat in the desert while sitting in the sun (particularly for convertibles).

> They have double OLED ... which is required for brightness

Could this be why headlights are so blindy now, to overcome drivers' permanently impaired night vision?

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#856

Post by Night_Thastus »

berkes wrote: post #649
sundvor wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start paying attention to driveway deaths involving little children, and you might wish a retrofit mandate of existing cars was already in place.

> driveway deaths involving little children, This leaves me with so many questions: * Why is this not an (actively discussed) issue in the EU? * Does this issue exist in other countries than the US? * If the problem is real, is a camera the only, or even best solution?

The reason actually ties into another US problem - the proliferation of very large SUVs, Crossovers and Pickups.

These gigantic cars have a significant problem seeing things close to them, especially if they're small like little kids.

This is why backup cameras are so crucial in the US, but not nearly as much in other countries. Those huge cars need them for safety.

For smaller cars (sedans, coups, hatchbacks) the benefit is a lot less.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#857

Post by electrondood »

smaudet wrote: post #710
londons_explore wrote: post #677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The safe thing to do would be to pull over first, as you see the rain getting heavier, then adjust.

I can immediately think of several situations where that is not at all possible to do. Construction, cliff roads, country roads, etc. Tesla are unsafe death traps by design.

[flagged]

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#858

Post by bick_nyers »

cdot2 wrote: post #138
yellowapple wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It ain't just cars. I can't think of very many people who genuinely enjoy the "smart" aspect of "smart TVs", for example; nearly everyone I know who owns a TV also owns some device that not only does everything the TV's "smarts" can do but does them consistently better and can be trivially replaced should that ever change.

In both cases it's a cost/finance reason. "Smart" TVs can profit from selling customer data and touch screen cars save some cost over tactile interfaces.

Everyone always says this, but how much do they actually make per unit sale. I buy $2k+ TVs, are they making $50 off of my data, or $5? Does it even pay for the department they hired to write the software that collects the data?

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#859

Post by kube-system »

justeleblanc wrote: post #701
geraldwhen wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many states you can absolutely use your phone while driving, either to call someone or actively use gps without a window mount. What’s explicitly prohibited is texting/writing and driving.

The US is not a beacon of consumer safety. In my European country, having your phone in your hand while driving is illegal.

There are US states that have the same law.

The way that the separations of powers work in the US, basically all driving laws are set by the states. The rules for driving can and do change when you cross state lines in the US, sometimes significantly. It really doesn't make any sense to talk about specific driving laws in the US as a monolith.

Re: Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens

#860

Post by wackycat »

You especially hate touchscreens if you have a Mazda with the "ghost touch" issue where the touchscreen will be randomly activated. Fun examples of things ghost touch has done for me - call a random spam number back, turn navigation guidance volume to full blast, adjust the music settings such that it is all bass or all treble. Only certain years, not mine, are covered by the recall even though it affects more years. Fix is 1200 to replace the whole nav set up. Or taking off the dash and disconnecting the touchscreen.
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