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> Tesla's insane drive to remove almost all physical controls and lock everything behind a touch screen interface. I dunno, I kinda like it. Have you spent so

by ajross 4y ago

> Tesla's insane drive to remove almost all physical controls and lock everything behind a touch screen interface. I dunno, I kinda like it. Have you spent some time driving one? You might change your mind. I guess I don't quite understand the concern here. Defrost buttons aren't in a standard place anywhere, you need to hunt for them. In a Tesla you can just put it in autopilot while you do. Or you can click the (physical, heh) right thumb button on the wheel and say "Turn on Defrost". I'm not going to tell people not to hate Musk (and I'm certainly not going to defend the disaster at Twitter), but... the cars are really, really great. No, not everyone is going to like everything, but when I see stuff like "insane", "cheap", "lies", "crazy" in posts like this, I think it's pretty clear the rhetoric has gotten way too far ahead of the truth.

ranger207 4y ago
Once I know where the physical defrost button is, I can remember it and find it by touch easily. I can't do this if my car has a software update and moves the defrost button three menus deep on a touchscreen
- ajross 4y ago
  This seems maybe a little unserious? People enter the drivers seats of unfamiliar cars, what, maybe two or three orders of magnitude more often than Tesla makes significant changes to the in-car UI (twice in the last ~6 years or thereabouts). Do you express similar concerns over the serious safety issues in the human factors interaction involved in defrost actuation on rental cars?
- bryanlarsen 4y ago
  If you actually hit defrost by touch, you'd be in a small minority of drivers. Most drivers instinctively look down to ensure they hit the right button. Most probably could operate it by touch, but they don't. Only the buttons on the wheel or stalks are operated without looking.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    With a touch screen, there is no physical feedback until you touch the screen, and that feedback is "you've touched a screen." With a button, even if you look once to confirm its location, there's physical feedback of "you're touching the button and not the edge between two buttons", "you've depressed the button" and "you've released the button". The difference in physical feedback means the difference between looking and watching - and the time required to watch your finger interact with a virtual button and verifying that the interaction was registered.
  - seattle_spring 4y ago
    Somewhat meta: this post has a lot of comments that just assume that one's own experience is automatically representative of the majority.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
I've been a Tesla owner for 3 years. While sure, it's not too hard to find the Defrost button on the touch screen, I'd still rather have a physical button. It's not a deal breaker for me, though.

by ajross 4y ago

ranger207 4y ago

Once I know where the physical defrost button is, I can remember it and find it by touch easily. I can't do this if my car has a software update and moves the defrost button three menus deep on a touchscreen

ajross 4y ago
This seems maybe a little unserious? People enter the drivers seats of unfamiliar cars, what, maybe two or three orders of magnitude more often than Tesla makes significant changes to the in-car UI (twice in the last ~6 years or thereabouts). Do you express similar concerns over the serious safety issues in the human factors interaction involved in defrost actuation on rental cars?
bryanlarsen 4y ago
If you actually hit defrost by touch, you'd be in a small minority of drivers. Most drivers instinctively look down to ensure they hit the right button. Most probably could operate it by touch, but they don't. Only the buttons on the wheel or stalks are operated without looking.
- falcolas 4y ago
  With a touch screen, there is no physical feedback until you touch the screen, and that feedback is "you've touched a screen." With a button, even if you look once to confirm its location, there's physical feedback of "you're touching the button and not the edge between two buttons", "you've depressed the button" and "you've released the button". The difference in physical feedback means the difference between looking and watching - and the time required to watch your finger interact with a virtual button and verifying that the interaction was registered.
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  Somewhat meta: this post has a lot of comments that just assume that one's own experience is automatically representative of the majority.

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago

I've been a Tesla owner for 3 years. While sure, it's not too hard to find the Defrost button on the touch screen, I'd still rather have a physical button. It's not a deal breaker for me, though.