Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

theturnsignalblog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 242 posts

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#91

Post by marssaxman »

costcopizza wrote: post #30

One overlooked feature of physical controls is that they also give interiors an identity and experience. Growing up obsessed with cars, I loved seeing how different brands would lay out the cabin. Volvos from the 2000s used a rather large diagram of a seated person to select the HVAC vent for example. Also, in my brain, a 3000+ pound object just dang requires some stuff to physically press, push, and hear click! A co…

The classic Range Rover has a seat-adjustment control in the shape of a little seat. If you want your seat to lean back, you just grab the back of the miniature seat and push it in the appropriate direction; the motors in the actual seat move it to match.

While I'd have preferred a simple, bulletproof, nonmotorized seat, if one must automate, that's a great interface.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#92

Post by getlawgdon »

Royce-CMR wrote: post #90
CRConrad wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Truly a lost art today. Fond memories.

Aggressive BMW driver. You don't say.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#93

Post by GuB-42 »

wnissen wrote: post #50
maxglute wrote: post #38

Standardizing voice control in cars will go a long way until vendors decide to standardize physical controls or car OS. I should be able to get in any car and say "Set heat to X", "Defrost Windows" etc.

Told a rented Telsa "Turn on wipers". It replied that it didn't understand "Turn on vipers". Yes, car, I have a basket of venomous snakes in the back and wish them to be activated! Bravo! Once LLMs are a lot better at understanding intent, that is probably what we'll get, since it will be cheaper than even bargain basement mechanical controls.

With better AI, the car could have searched YouTube for a documentary about snake reproduction.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#94

Post by brailsafe »

mhdhn wrote: post #82
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…

Digital controls? Hell no. Just say no.

Not even once

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#96

Post by Unearned5161 »

I guess that's a nicer touchscreen than others, but I just don't get why we need touchscreens at all to begin with. I'm a fan of Mazda having a touchless screen, and I'm even more a fan of my 2004 bmw X5 that has the beautiful control of minutely adjusting the temperature by turning a dial in the middle of the dash.

You can set the temperature to something moderate like 70 or whatever and then if the air hitting your face and hands is too hot or cold, you just turn the dial, all other vents continue doing their thing at 70, but you can have hot/cold air on your hands at the same time. And, of course, you can do this adjustment in a split second while you merge onto the highway.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#97

Post by brailsafe »

It's wild to me that so many people ITT obviously hate many aspects of the interface they have with their cars, and yet buy them new anyway and deal with it. Having not had a car for years, the only time I'd find this acceptable is if I was just buying a palatable but imperfect used car rather than a new one that's tens of thousands. I'd accept that some of these issues may not be discovered during the lead up research and testing phase, but it's weird and possibly upsetting that the pressure to buy an arbitrary car is so strong that some people would just get one anyway.

If I need a car temporarily, these are things I can easily overlook for like the week I have it, but if the controls irritate me, I'm sure as hell not inclined to go out and buy one anyway.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#98

Post by userbinator »

thecrumb wrote: post #52

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.

On the other hand, one of the most important aspects of physical controls is that you shouldn't need to look at them to operate them, as your eyes should remain on the road.

Re: The subtle art of designing physical controls for cars

#100

Post by dzhiurgis »

I'm very happy with my Tesla touchscreen while buttons on recent Toyota rental sucked balls - they weren't spaced apart so you are taking your eyes off road. Some older Japanese cars place bunch of buttons in a little island that takes solid half minute to figure out what you need.

People blindly reeeee'ing on touchscreens need to learn how to form a coherent arguments. i.e. they are not great for old and frail or some manufacturers don't know basics of UX.

End of the day getting pissy about climate controls is ridiculous. If you can't operate car for few minutes within couple degrees comfortable temperature then you might be a problem.

Post reply on HN