6 ms·
IMHO touchscreens in cars are the beginning (or perhaps a continuation) of the crapification and tiktok-ization of this entire product category. I remember onc
by jacknews 4y ago
IMHO touchscreens in cars are the beginning (or perhaps a continuation) of the crapification and tiktok-ization of this entire product category.
I remember once driving, I think a Renault Megane, which had all the controls (stereo, climate, etc) replicated as buttons on (behind) the steering wheel. A slight learning curve, but completely seamless driver-car integration once learned. Someone had obviously thought carefully about how this should work, instead of just slapping in a touchscreen and a bunch of menus.
- galangalalgol 4y agoYes! I want a car interface designed by whoever is responsible for vim.
- kh_hk 4y agoIt's all fun until someone else tries to quit your car.
- willhackett 4y ago"Sir, can you please explain what you were doing when the accident occurred?"
- kh_hk 4y ago"I just thought I was in INSERT mode"
- HeckFeck 4y agoI accidentally had caps lock on, sorry.
- quickthrower2 4y agoImpossible, caps lock should be mapped to ESC
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoWhat do you mean someone else? What about me! Alternatively, what do you mean, quit?
- mempko 4y agoIsn't this what Tesla's electronic door handle is all about while the car burns?
- quickthrower2 4y agoLike Hotel California
- toxik 4y agoSo only professional drivers can turn off their cars? :-)
- Timon3 4y agoWhen I read your comment, I immediately thought of a car which you exit by removing the floor plating, after which the car lifts itself up, so you can comfortably step away from the underside. Can't wait to see my grandma try that!
- VTimofeenko 4y agoOh hey, this reminds me of a car I saw. Thankfully did not have to ride it. The floor on passenger side was missing and it was a bit lifted , so you could get out the car that way. Was handy because sometimes the door lock got jammed and refused to work. Same goes for the meatgrinder-style window controls. Other than that - it worked and somehow had all the needed papers to be street-legal.
- nonrandomstring 4y agoIt's called ergonomics [1]. The "crapification" you describe is the creep away from the scientific principles that once underpinned this field. Before UX we had HCI (Human Computer Interaction) which was in turn a development of CE (Cognitive Ergonomics) and other "human factors" sciences. These sciences were rooted in very rigorous but time consuming tests, observation, psychology and physiology. from TFA: "Designers want a "clean" interior with minimal switchgear" This is where the wheels fall off the wagon. Should "what designers want" be high amongst the priorities for safety critical products? [1] https://iea.cc/what-is-ergonomics/ https://iea.cc/what-is-ergonomics/
- robbie-c 4y agoYes, if designers are component at all of these things: > tests, observation, psychology and physiology Is that not their job?
- indymike 4y agoMany, but not all, designers are just making their boss happy.
- bombcar 4y agoThis is it 1000% - touchscreens look cool in "demos" and "show the CEO" and so they're selected for. Buttons and actual things that let you use the device/vehicle for 8+ hours a day, not so selected for.
- mckirk 4y agoJust look at Windows 11 to see how far removed designers can be from users, despite probably seeming quite competent.
- iguanayou 4y agoI like Windows 11!
- zppln 4y agoSounds like the car equivalent of HOTAS.
- jmclnx 4y agoThis started years ago, my example is the transformation of the Jeep CJ into the wrangler. CJ were fairly cheap, worked fine and came with no frills (I won't talk about rust). The wrangler is an overglorified SUV. When that happened, I went to regular automobiles, which are now getting harder to find these days.
- repler 4y agoI can understand where you're coming from, but compared to the vehicles I own now my 98 TJ seems "no frills". The soft top folded down pretty nicely. The rear seat could also fold down, as did the windshield. The half doors were still removable, and there were still only 2 of them. It was a manual transmission but had A/C. The heater had two settings: "lava" and "off" :D
- nso 4y agoMy cars heater started bellowing hot steam into my car through the vent system a few weeks ago. I took it to a friend who is mechanic and asked how much it was to fix it. He said "we live in the tropics, what would you use a heater for?", then disconnected it completely and charged me a beer. Very unrelated.
- thiht 4y agoWtf does it have to do with TikTok?
- jacknews 4y agoYou'll see. Now, you control your car, though with increasing friction.
- heleninboodler 4y agoI see the analogy. TikTok has streamlined the consumption UI to the point where your control is extremely rudimentary -- you like it or don't. The car makers are doing the same, to some degree -- you follow the 95% use case or you experience pain. I had a rental car last weekend for 4 days. I turned on the radio and didn't like the station. I tried to figure out how to tune a different station and couldn't, so I just turned it off. Perhaps they should switch to a model where they just play me random music and I say "yes" or "no" until they learn how to train me what to like.
- jacknews 4y agoYes, and just wait until they turn on ads. You know it's coming. 'Two for one cupcakes this hour only at Let them Eat Cake!, coming up on our left in 30 seconds. Pull over Yes/No?'. Etc.
- heleninboodler 4y agoI say we go full tiktok and have the car just shove cupcakes in your face. If you swat it away, it tries other foods. If you accept it, more cupcakes.
- motoboi 4y agoJust someone getting older and repeating the ancient mantra of "things are getting worse! because children are not educated the way they used to be".
- LtWorf 4y agoMy car radio is completely unusable. I had it for 2 years and never figured out how to tell it to just play everything on the usb. Instead it groups by artist or genre and only plays that. Eventually the usb port just stopped working so I use VLC on the phone and stream to the car via bluetooth.
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoThis has been an issue for car radios playing digital media ever since it became available though.
- mannykannot 4y agoBluetooth in cars is often itself a shitshow, however. You are lucky it does not replicate all the anti-usability features of the USB interface. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32162131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32162131
- Sohcahtoa82 4y agoI wish I knew what the designers/engineers were thinking when they created the ability to play music from a USB drive. It feels like their target audience is not the type of person that would put music on a USB drive for the car. I just want it to recognize that I sort my music into folders and show the folder hierarchy. Instead, in my last car, it would flatten the entire structure and then sort by filename. To top off the shitshow, it would also only show up to 99 files, and scrolling through the list was painful. Each tap on the scroll button would only move one line, not one page, so if I wanted to play the 80th song, I'd have to tap to scroll 80 times.
- heleninboodler 4y agoWhat kind of a monster has more than 99 songs?
- m463 4y agoso you have a tesla too? seriously though, the USB audio player is a dumpster fire. They completely redid it with the last update -- and it got worse, not better. some random examples off the top of my head: - switch to another input source and you lose your audiobook position - sorting is completely utterly broken - audiobook has no skip-back-a-little function - soooo many bugs The only nice things I could say is that it mounts linux filesystems plus it plays FLAC and Apple lossless directly.
- WalterBright 4y agoI learned that when the touchscreen starts flickering, it means the alternator has shorted out and you've got only a few miles before the car goes dead.
- WalterBright 4y agoA voltmeter would tell me the same thing, but modern cars seem to have replaced them with a touch screen.
- JasserInicide 4y agoThis is what happens when Ivy League MBAs run every industry
- jacknews 4y agoReally, these people are poison to engineering culture, and once that deteriorates, the company soon follows. Look at Palm, HP, Intel, I'm sure there are numerous others.
- conductr 4y ago> crapification and tiktok-ization I think Apple's design choices provide a better analogy but the point is still taken and I tend to agree. They want cars to be disposable technology that consumers are continuously upgrading (like their phone)
- jacknews 4y agoOne change is that a car ceases to be an 'object' (to show off), or a 'tool' (to get you to work), and becomes an 'experience'; of course, controlled by corporations.