4 ms·

i was looking for a "safe" car and that's why I didnt buy a current volvo. to add to the problem the screen is laggy too. kind of reminds me of cars before seat

by modzu 7y ago

i was looking for a "safe" car and that's why I didnt buy a current volvo. to add to the problem the screen is laggy too. kind of reminds me of cars before seatbelts. safety has come sooo much farther but seems we have a few new lessons to learn as we catch up with the shiny new tech.

modzu 7y ago
what also bothers me about this is even if I don't buy one for the perceived safety risk, others can. the risk remains.
mumblemumble 7y ago
I suspect it'll have to get solved the same way as seat belts did, too. For the same reason: Cost. A low-distraction interface is going to be more expensive to develop and manufacture than a touchscreen that can be largely assembled from commodity parts and some software.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  The way I read the history section here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt makes it sound like seatbelts are mandated. In what way is it cheaper to install seatbelts than not?
  - mortenjorck 7y ago
    I think what the GP is saying is that because seatbelts were an added expense, the only way they were ever widely adopted was through legislation, and that distraction-minimizing infotainment systems will have to follow a similar path.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      Right, sorry, yes, I see that now.
- Cyberdog 7y ago
  > A low-distraction interface is going to be more expensive to develop and manufacture than a touchscreen that can be largely assembled from commodity parts and some software. That seems bizarrely counter-intuitive as a more-or-less standardized low-distraction interface already exists for car radios. Okay, sure, you add the touch screen so you can do GPS and stuff, but is it really that hard to wire up a pre-existing car radio knob and buttons to an Android device along with some software to map twisting the knob to adjusting the audio volume and so on? It just baffles me how little apparent attention was given to this sort of thing. I wonder if these people are dogfooding.
gambiting 7y ago
What was your problem with the volvo specifically? I just collected a 2020 XC60 T8 and I have zero issues with it. Much much better than the infotainment system I had in my 2016 Mercedes, far more intuitive and very responsive. My only gripe so far is that if I navigate away from Android Auto I need to scroll left to bring it back up again.
- mstade 7y ago
  I can't speak for OP but can echo the sentiments with laggy touchscreens in Volvos. I don't know about the 2020 models or even 2019, but certainly the 2017-2018 models had issues in my experience. Maybe they've fixed them, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I've always been a fan of Volvo's interface pre-touchscreens, they just made sense to me somehow. This is why I'm looking at a late model C70 as a potential purchase.
  - gambiting 7y ago
    2019 and onwards got much faster CPUs. I was aware of people complaining about the speed and laginess of the interface on the models before then, but it's not been a problem in my experience, everything is pretty responsive.
    - mstade 7y ago
      Ah right that might be it then. The older models definitely had issues, to the point where you weren't sure if it had actually registered the press or if it was just being slow. The worst of it was the inconsistency, it would sometimes be responsive, and most of the time not. Glad to hear the 2020 models seem better!
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

by modzu 7y ago

modzu 7y ago

what also bothers me about this is even if I don't buy one for the perceived safety risk, others can. the risk remains.

mumblemumble 7y ago

I suspect it'll have to get solved the same way as seat belts did, too. For the same reason: Cost. A low-distraction interface is going to be more expensive to develop and manufacture than a touchscreen that can be largely assembled from commodity parts and some software.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
The way I read the history section here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt makes it sound like seatbelts are mandated. In what way is it cheaper to install seatbelts than not?
- mortenjorck 7y ago
  I think what the GP is saying is that because seatbelts were an added expense, the only way they were ever widely adopted was through legislation, and that distraction-minimizing infotainment systems will have to follow a similar path.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    Right, sorry, yes, I see that now.
Cyberdog 7y ago
> A low-distraction interface is going to be more expensive to develop and manufacture than a touchscreen that can be largely assembled from commodity parts and some software. That seems bizarrely counter-intuitive as a more-or-less standardized low-distraction interface already exists for car radios. Okay, sure, you add the touch screen so you can do GPS and stuff, but is it really that hard to wire up a pre-existing car radio knob and buttons to an Android device along with some software to map twisting the knob to adjusting the audio volume and so on? It just baffles me how little apparent attention was given to this sort of thing. I wonder if these people are dogfooding.

gambiting 7y ago

What was your problem with the volvo specifically? I just collected a 2020 XC60 T8 and I have zero issues with it. Much much better than the infotainment system I had in my 2016 Mercedes, far more intuitive and very responsive. My only gripe so far is that if I navigate away from Android Auto I need to scroll left to bring it back up again.

mstade 7y ago
I can't speak for OP but can echo the sentiments with laggy touchscreens in Volvos. I don't know about the 2020 models or even 2019, but certainly the 2017-2018 models had issues in my experience. Maybe they've fixed them, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I've always been a fan of Volvo's interface pre-touchscreens, they just made sense to me somehow. This is why I'm looking at a late model C70 as a potential purchase.
- gambiting 7y ago
  2019 and onwards got much faster CPUs. I was aware of people complaining about the speed and laginess of the interface on the models before then, but it's not been a problem in my experience, everything is pretty responsive.
  - mstade 7y ago
    Ah right that might be it then. The older models definitely had issues, to the point where you weren't sure if it had actually registered the press or if it was just being slow. The worst of it was the inconsistency, it would sometimes be responsive, and most of the time not. Glad to hear the 2020 models seem better!
deleted 7y ago
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