4 ms·

It's been many years since I've met a glance-free radio. Even the barebones tape deck package usually has source buttons, you have to glance if you're looking f

It's been many years since I've met a glance-free radio. Even the barebones tape deck package usually has source buttons, you have to glance if you're looking for a station, you invoke the part of your brain to remember the frequency of the station you like or was it preset 6, etc etc. If you're just seeking from steering wheel buttons, sure, but then you also have a timing distraction to push the button to stop and oh crap I missed it and now I have to tune back. And tuning toward a specific destination with the Tune buttons (tap-tap-tap-tap or tap-hold-miss-static-tap-tap with many glances thrown in) is about as distracting as texting, I'd wager. There's a lot of "higher order" and potentially distracting UX in manipulating a radio, versus a hot/cold switch. I don't think touch screens add much; I honestly think the control rearrangement capability actually improves UX for distraction purposes, like directly tapping a visual logo, for example, which is a lot faster to recognize than a frequency or channel number or dragging a virtual "tuner" along the "spectrum" with a Tune+ button.

lj3 9y ago
I've yet to meet a non-glance-free radio. Then again, the latest car I've ever owned is from 2003. I can believe tactile buttons went the way of the dinosaur about the time the iPhone was created (2008?)
- jsmthrowaway 9y ago
  There's more to what I'm saying than the buttons. I am actually alleging that yours is more distracting than you think with the input technology being a minor point compared to your brain involvement, and I would say the same of my '94 Accord.
zippergz 9y ago
I don't entirely disagree. Screwing with the radio while driving can be distracting no matter what kind of radio you have. But on my current car, I control the radio with click wheels on the steering wheel and a small display right in front of the driver, between the speedometer and tachometer (side note, I also get navigation cues on the same screen). So I can manipulate the radio without taking my hands off the wheel at all, and if I need to look at the screen, I glance directly down just as I would to look at the speed. Reaching and looking over to the right, to manipulate something with no tactile feedback seems different to me. A bigger one is the climate control. I adjust the climate control in my car multiple times per day, every day, without ever glancing at it. I know which knobs to turn and I get the click feedback to know how much I've turned them. Of course, I haven't tried the Model 3 touch screen (I've played with the one in the Model S, but not extensively), so I can't say for sure. But intuitively it's hard for me to understand how it wouldn't be different.

lj3 9y ago

I've yet to meet a non-glance-free radio. Then again, the latest car I've ever owned is from 2003. I can believe tactile buttons went the way of the dinosaur about the time the iPhone was created (2008?)

jsmthrowaway 9y ago
There's more to what I'm saying than the buttons. I am actually alleging that yours is more distracting than you think with the input technology being a minor point compared to your brain involvement, and I would say the same of my '94 Accord.

zippergz 9y ago

I don't entirely disagree. Screwing with the radio while driving can be distracting no matter what kind of radio you have. But on my current car, I control the radio with click wheels on the steering wheel and a small display right in front of the driver, between the speedometer and tachometer (side note, I also get navigation cues on the same screen). So I can manipulate the radio without taking my hands off the wheel at all, and if I need to look at the screen, I glance directly down just as I would to look at the speed. Reaching and looking over to the right, to manipulate something with no tactile feedback seems different to me. A bigger one is the climate control. I adjust the climate control in my car multiple times per day, every day, without ever glancing at it. I know which knobs to turn and I get the click feedback to know how much I've turned them. Of course, I haven't tried the Model 3 touch screen (I've played with the one in the Model S, but not extensively), so I can't say for sure. But intuitively it's hard for me to understand how it wouldn't be different.