4 ms·

Writing from a seatbelt-less 1968 VW Bus where every corner of the vehicle is visible and where the dashboard has just the speedometer and a couple of warning l

Writing from a seatbelt-less 1968 VW Bus where every corner of the vehicle is visible and where the dashboard has just the speedometer and a couple of warning lights: "Why digital maps in cars don't work" "Why backup cameras in cars don't work" "Why carphones in cars don't work" "Why CD players in cars don't work" "Why climate controls in cars don't work" "Why cup holders in cars don't work" "Why electric windows in cars don't work" "Why cigarette lighters in cars don't work" I think the Tesla big screen is the future and any talk of adding in gazillions of allegedly tactile buttons is defeatist. Maybe it would be better if new drivers had VW Bus mode, i.e. no distractions, not even a map. Then the features could be unlocked over time. Or the car could make you pull over to access the full menu system. If you are barrelling down the road at 70 miles per hour then you shouldn't be able to touch anything or be shown anything superfluous. If you then pull over into the service station then the display should then kick into life, show more than the basics and become interactive. Such a system could be adaptive, based on conditions different gadgetry could be shown. This would be a different design ethos to 'infotainment' and would require regulation or insurance premium fixes to make it a thing.

nottorp 8y ago
I don't think anybody ever uttered any of those "don't work" phrases as they're all quality of life improvements, as opposed to a touch screen. Also, you're not qualified to offer an opinion on a touch screen in a car because you haven't tried one long term ;)
michaelmrose 8y ago
Lets see we start with a false dichotomy of a 60s VW bus or something new and shiny as if the shiny in dash ui is why we want new and shiny and between a gazillion buttons and a crappy modal touchscreen that shows a gazillion different buttons in different screens instead. Ignoring the logical choice of a handful of important buttons for oft used features. Interfaces are interesting to you because you want to design them the people driving to work could basically give two shits. The interface to the cars ui is the least interesting thing they could possibly imagine about their new car and if they notice it you probably screwed it up. People like uninteresting interfaces that work like stuff they are already used to that are easy to operate preferably while cruising down the interstate at 70 miles per hour. The last thing people could possibly want is an interface that silently changes state based on what the car thinks is going on because they will almost certainly just think its broken when it doesn't work as expected. This also means that people will find that passengers can't use for example navigation while the car is moving because the car thinks is protecting the user from themselves. They will respond by grasping their phone in one hand while holding the wheel in the other so they can navigate or slightly better getting a little mount for their phone which will always be relatively new tech while their car quickly gets more obsolete long before the car outlives its usefulness. The most amazing choice of words in the entire post is where you describe putting actual buttons as defeatist as if foisting crappy ui were a mission rather than an affliction.
WalterBright 8y ago
> barrelling down the road at 70 miles per hour A '68 VW bus won't go faster than 65 (unless you drive it off a cliff). Source: drove one across the US a couple times.
- JdeBP 8y ago
  You need a bigger tow-truck, obviously. * http://jdebp.info./Humour/volkswagen-lexicon.html http://jdebp.info./Humour/volkswagen-lexicon.html
headconnect 8y ago
I agree. I doubt there is any turning back, which was a UX nightmare anyway. I do agree that tactile and predictable locations for the most commonly used functions improve the ability of the driver to focus on the road while operating them. However, I doubt there are many customers willing to go back to the 12 disc CD changer days where you're randomly selecting discs to get the song you want, or manually scanning blindly until you hit a radio station with reception and the music you like. We have streaming services and playlists now, and there is an expectation that those are available to you on the road. We also no longer simply have a dial going from cold too hot for climate. We have basics like direction (feet, center, windscreen), circulating or external air, AC on or off, and then couple that with multi zone, and you end up in the same mess. If we get rid of the screen but keep the functionality, we end up with an airliner cockpit. If you want to operate that blindly, I think that's more time than any customer would be willing to invest in learning, and we're in deeper trouble than where we started ("where is the damn rear right seat warmer adjustment!"). I do agree that the current state of controls are suboptimal though, but that's exactly the point. We should focus our efforts on optimizing that. For instance modal controls displaying selected mode in HUD, either in the instrument panel or on the windscreen. I drive a comparatively simple Peugeot 308, which had a horrible touch screen, but not too much functionality. I agree that I check out more often than I should, but that's mainly when I want to know what song is playing on the radio. It took two years to discover a steering wheel shortcut to pick from a 30-station preset list of dab channels. I doubt any level of modal tactile control would allow me to intuitively change the audio fader settings between "driver" and "all passengers", but then again, that's something I've learned to do while generally focusing on the road as it's a predictable series of touch screen presses. I'm sure it's not great to do that in terms of overall attentiveness regardless how focused I think I am, but given that the alternative is not having the option.. I'll take my chances. And so, I think, will other consumers. Whatever can be done to improve the UX and reduce risk should be done however, and it should be a higher priority than style.
- Fins 8y ago
  Almost all of these can be controlled with a reasonable number of mechanical controls. It just takes more effort to design them than to throw together a crappy touchscreen UI.

nottorp 8y ago

I don't think anybody ever uttered any of those "don't work" phrases as they're all quality of life improvements, as opposed to a touch screen. Also, you're not qualified to offer an opinion on a touch screen in a car because you haven't tried one long term ;)

michaelmrose 8y ago

Lets see we start with a false dichotomy of a 60s VW bus or something new and shiny as if the shiny in dash ui is why we want new and shiny and between a gazillion buttons and a crappy modal touchscreen that shows a gazillion different buttons in different screens instead. Ignoring the logical choice of a handful of important buttons for oft used features. Interfaces are interesting to you because you want to design them the people driving to work could basically give two shits. The interface to the cars ui is the least interesting thing they could possibly imagine about their new car and if they notice it you probably screwed it up. People like uninteresting interfaces that work like stuff they are already used to that are easy to operate preferably while cruising down the interstate at 70 miles per hour. The last thing people could possibly want is an interface that silently changes state based on what the car thinks is going on because they will almost certainly just think its broken when it doesn't work as expected. This also means that people will find that passengers can't use for example navigation while the car is moving because the car thinks is protecting the user from themselves. They will respond by grasping their phone in one hand while holding the wheel in the other so they can navigate or slightly better getting a little mount for their phone which will always be relatively new tech while their car quickly gets more obsolete long before the car outlives its usefulness. The most amazing choice of words in the entire post is where you describe putting actual buttons as defeatist as if foisting crappy ui were a mission rather than an affliction.

WalterBright 8y ago

> barrelling down the road at 70 miles per hour A '68 VW bus won't go faster than 65 (unless you drive it off a cliff). Source: drove one across the US a couple times.

JdeBP 8y ago
You need a bigger tow-truck, obviously. * http://jdebp.info./Humour/volkswagen-lexicon.html http://jdebp.info./Humour/volkswagen-lexicon.html

headconnect 8y ago

I agree. I doubt there is any turning back, which was a UX nightmare anyway. I do agree that tactile and predictable locations for the most commonly used functions improve the ability of the driver to focus on the road while operating them. However, I doubt there are many customers willing to go back to the 12 disc CD changer days where you're randomly selecting discs to get the song you want, or manually scanning blindly until you hit a radio station with reception and the music you like. We have streaming services and playlists now, and there is an expectation that those are available to you on the road. We also no longer simply have a dial going from cold too hot for climate. We have basics like direction (feet, center, windscreen), circulating or external air, AC on or off, and then couple that with multi zone, and you end up in the same mess. If we get rid of the screen but keep the functionality, we end up with an airliner cockpit. If you want to operate that blindly, I think that's more time than any customer would be willing to invest in learning, and we're in deeper trouble than where we started ("where is the damn rear right seat warmer adjustment!"). I do agree that the current state of controls are suboptimal though, but that's exactly the point. We should focus our efforts on optimizing that. For instance modal controls displaying selected mode in HUD, either in the instrument panel or on the windscreen. I drive a comparatively simple Peugeot 308, which had a horrible touch screen, but not too much functionality. I agree that I check out more often than I should, but that's mainly when I want to know what song is playing on the radio. It took two years to discover a steering wheel shortcut to pick from a 30-station preset list of dab channels. I doubt any level of modal tactile control would allow me to intuitively change the audio fader settings between "driver" and "all passengers", but then again, that's something I've learned to do while generally focusing on the road as it's a predictable series of touch screen presses. I'm sure it's not great to do that in terms of overall attentiveness regardless how focused I think I am, but given that the alternative is not having the option.. I'll take my chances. And so, I think, will other consumers. Whatever can be done to improve the UX and reduce risk should be done however, and it should be a higher priority than style.

Fins 8y ago
Almost all of these can be controlled with a reasonable number of mechanical controls. It just takes more effort to design them than to throw together a crappy touchscreen UI.