4 ms·

This comment is off-topic: the article is about physical buttons for non-safety-critical systems. E.g. the article explicitly mentions climate control.

hnarn 7y ago
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough about this but I was more trying to make a point that physical input is safer, and that the trend towards touchscreens in general worries me. So a return to "normal", which I guess is not so normal these days, is for me very welcome. Touchscreens in cars cause safety issues for other reasons, namely those of distraction, but my concern is what the future will look like if touchscreen normality takes the upper hand over safety concerns.
KotlinFan554001 7y ago
I am really sorry but foggy windshield is definitely safety critical.
daotoad 7y ago
You can still die if the driver spends too long messing with air conditioner settings instead of focusing on the road. CarPlay and Android Auto make this problem worse, IMO. Now you have app publishers writing arbitrarily complex UIs for cars. Spotify is a bitch to use while driving and because of Apple's reluctance to enable Siri support for third party apps, it's not very controllable by voice.
- diydsp 7y ago
  yup, just rented a cool modern car and was distraught at how much menu-diving there was. and even if you memorize it, the lag was still huge vs. real-time controls!
- sigspec 7y ago
  "Siri, play the Eagles on spotify" Been available for a little bit now. https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-use-siri-to-control-spotify-ios-13 https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-use-siri-to-control-...
hinkley 7y ago
The ergonomics in question here are not about the driver being able to operate controls in a critical situation. They're about operating the controls without causing a critical situation. If you want, you might think of radio, climate controls, etc as having negative values on the safety axis. You still want to shift them to the right as far as you can.
masklinn 7y ago
Climate control is something you will want to adjust while driving, so it should be as eyes-free as possible once the basics have been acquired. I can’t think of a car I’ve driven where the climate control was not physical though, that seems pretty insane.
- jasondclinton 7y ago
  All Tesla climate is non-physical. All newer Volvos are except for the defrost controls, as well.
- iknowstuff 7y ago
  Will you though? You have a temperature you're comfortable at. Set climate control to that and let the software manage the air.

hnarn 7y ago

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough about this but I was more trying to make a point that physical input is safer, and that the trend towards touchscreens in general worries me. So a return to "normal", which I guess is not so normal these days, is for me very welcome. Touchscreens in cars cause safety issues for other reasons, namely those of distraction, but my concern is what the future will look like if touchscreen normality takes the upper hand over safety concerns.

KotlinFan554001 7y ago

I am really sorry but foggy windshield is definitely safety critical.

daotoad 7y ago

You can still die if the driver spends too long messing with air conditioner settings instead of focusing on the road. CarPlay and Android Auto make this problem worse, IMO. Now you have app publishers writing arbitrarily complex UIs for cars. Spotify is a bitch to use while driving and because of Apple's reluctance to enable Siri support for third party apps, it's not very controllable by voice.

diydsp 7y ago
yup, just rented a cool modern car and was distraught at how much menu-diving there was. and even if you memorize it, the lag was still huge vs. real-time controls!
sigspec 7y ago
"Siri, play the Eagles on spotify" Been available for a little bit now. https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-use-siri-to-control-spotify-ios-13 https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-use-siri-to-control-...

hinkley 7y ago

The ergonomics in question here are not about the driver being able to operate controls in a critical situation. They're about operating the controls without causing a critical situation. If you want, you might think of radio, climate controls, etc as having negative values on the safety axis. You still want to shift them to the right as far as you can.

masklinn 7y ago

Climate control is something you will want to adjust while driving, so it should be as eyes-free as possible once the basics have been acquired. I can’t think of a car I’ve driven where the climate control was not physical though, that seems pretty insane.

jasondclinton 7y ago
All Tesla climate is non-physical. All newer Volvos are except for the defrost controls, as well.
iknowstuff 7y ago
Will you though? You have a temperature you're comfortable at. Set climate control to that and let the software manage the air.