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I cannot believe the amount of screens that have been allowed into cars. Touchscreens that beckon not only for your attention, but also your interaction are som

by lunias 3y ago

I cannot believe the amount of screens that have been allowed into cars. Touchscreens that beckon not only for your attention, but also your interaction are somehow fine to just put wherever in the car. It's illegal to use my phone for non hands-free calls while driving (technically, but it's not even remotely enforced) but it's okay to use my television-sized device connected to my phone because it's integrated into my dashboard? Y'know maybe we should just get rid of the windows (windows are very 17th century) in cars and replace them with cameras and touchscreens? Imagine being able to both see the road AND quickly sketch out an idea with a co-worker on the windshield during your commute!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
kwhitefoot 3y ago
Such messages never appear in my Tesla S while I am driving. They only appear when the car has the parking brake applied. The only messages that appear while driving are relevant for me and appear in well defined locations, they do not obscure the rest of the screen.
vel0city 3y ago
> Imagine being able to both see the road AND quickly sketch out an idea with a co-worker on the windshield during your commute This is quite a disingenuous take on the screens in a car though. They usually only allow limited interactions while the vehicle is in motion, so that example of sketching out an idea with a coworker already isn't supposed to be happening with the current systems while the vehicle is in motion. My passenger can't type something while the vehicle is moving, and if they scroll through lists too fast it'll go into a timeout mode for a few seconds because it assumes the driver is paying too much attention to the screen. Coupled with driver attention tracking systems on current Euro cars (and it sounds like future US cars as well) it can really enforce that a driver doesn't pay too much attention directly to the screen or other things in the car.
- lunias 3y ago
  Is it disingenuous? I'd say perhaps hyperbolic or satirical. I remember a time when cars came with DVD players that wouldn't play if the car wasn't in park. People didn't like that so they worked around it. The lockout systems that you describe sound like the impetus for a market of bypasses. I would argue that if such restrictions are necessary then we should reconsider if the screen which necessitates them is necessary. We seem hard-pressed to consolidate all of a car's functionality into a touch screen, but the UX is often much worse than a physical input whose position never changes and can be felt with your fingers in the dark or in situations where you cannot look at it. This consolidation also seems like it creates a single point of failure: what happens if your screen breaks? It all seems like tech for tech's sake, things to justify charging more and more for new vehicles while providing manufacturers with a means of pushing updates, displaying ads, and selling services to extract more incremental value from consumers. I'd like to see a car w/ a screen for a map. That's it. You input your destination on your phone, it shows the map on the screen. The screen is for display only and it's decoupled from all other controls in the car.
  - vel0city 3y ago
    > The lockout systems that you describe sound like the impetus for a market of bypasses. If we're talking about modifying and buying 3rd party changes then the car not even having a screen from the factory is within the same world of people making changes are bad with excessive touchscreen interaction while moving. We're no longer talking about whatever the OEMs are shipping.
    - lunias 3y ago
      I get your point, but I think it does create a lower bar to clear than if there were no screens at all. A software flash is quick, easy, and cheap compared to installing and integrating your own custom equipment. More people will pay $500 to unlock / replace their head units than would pay $5000 to have their screen-less car retrofit with one.
      - 3y ago

by lunias 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

kwhitefoot 3y ago

Such messages never appear in my Tesla S while I am driving. They only appear when the car has the parking brake applied. The only messages that appear while driving are relevant for me and appear in well defined locations, they do not obscure the rest of the screen.

vel0city 3y ago

> Imagine being able to both see the road AND quickly sketch out an idea with a co-worker on the windshield during your commute This is quite a disingenuous take on the screens in a car though. They usually only allow limited interactions while the vehicle is in motion, so that example of sketching out an idea with a coworker already isn't supposed to be happening with the current systems while the vehicle is in motion. My passenger can't type something while the vehicle is moving, and if they scroll through lists too fast it'll go into a timeout mode for a few seconds because it assumes the driver is paying too much attention to the screen. Coupled with driver attention tracking systems on current Euro cars (and it sounds like future US cars as well) it can really enforce that a driver doesn't pay too much attention directly to the screen or other things in the car.

lunias 3y ago
Is it disingenuous? I'd say perhaps hyperbolic or satirical. I remember a time when cars came with DVD players that wouldn't play if the car wasn't in park. People didn't like that so they worked around it. The lockout systems that you describe sound like the impetus for a market of bypasses. I would argue that if such restrictions are necessary then we should reconsider if the screen which necessitates them is necessary. We seem hard-pressed to consolidate all of a car's functionality into a touch screen, but the UX is often much worse than a physical input whose position never changes and can be felt with your fingers in the dark or in situations where you cannot look at it. This consolidation also seems like it creates a single point of failure: what happens if your screen breaks? It all seems like tech for tech's sake, things to justify charging more and more for new vehicles while providing manufacturers with a means of pushing updates, displaying ads, and selling services to extract more incremental value from consumers. I'd like to see a car w/ a screen for a map. That's it. You input your destination on your phone, it shows the map on the screen. The screen is for display only and it's decoupled from all other controls in the car.
- vel0city 3y ago
  > The lockout systems that you describe sound like the impetus for a market of bypasses. If we're talking about modifying and buying 3rd party changes then the car not even having a screen from the factory is within the same world of people making changes are bad with excessive touchscreen interaction while moving. We're no longer talking about whatever the OEMs are shipping.
  - lunias 3y ago
    I get your point, but I think it does create a lower bar to clear than if there were no screens at all. A software flash is quick, easy, and cheap compared to installing and integrating your own custom equipment. More people will pay $500 to unlock / replace their head units than would pay $5000 to have their screen-less car retrofit with one.
    - 3y ago