Car doesn’t need a touchscreen in it | Hacker News Reader

Car doesn’t need a touchscreen in it

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23 pointsMBCook7 comments

I hate, HATE, HATE touch screen interfaces in cars. They lack the tactile feedback that I prefer to rely upon when modifying a setting all while keeping my focus on the road.

Voice commands are hit and miss with my accent (a mix of english and canadian french) so they don't work really well either.

I don't strictly hate touchscreens in my cars as long as the physical controls I use the most are still there, but it infuriates me that OEM replacements can cost upwards of $1000 while there are fairly high end aftermarket replacements -- with 99% of the existing features plus some additional extra features -- for half the price.

I'm not totally sure what goes into those OEM ones but they'd have to work hard to convince me the part itself is actually worth that much when everyone else disagrees.

This is why I am going to drive my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee until it explodes. The dash is wonderfully analog, with knobs and buttons and just the right amount of lighting. One day, I am going to start a business that specializes in ripping out new car technology and replacing it with quality analog components.

The simple issue I have with all of car technology is that most of it does not solve a problem I have. These days, we build shit not because it would be useful, but just because we can. And then businesses shove their products down your throat whether you want it or not. I don't know which car site on was on the other day, but they had a giant feature callout on the page for animated light sequences on the headlights and taillights, saying the car would "greet you" and say "goodbye" when you unlocked or locked the car.

I don't need my car to communicate with me like it's the fucking mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I want my vehicle to be a reliable but mostly unremarkable tool. We've got decades of engineering brain power and marketing know-how in play to bring a car to market, and car companies are trying to sell us on light beam sequences. I want off this planet.

And I find it funny that manufacturers are making screens look like phones and tablets. They float above or in front of the dash in the same way your phone would be positioned with a holder. I'd much rather have a great analog interior, with a strong magnet mount for my phone when I need it. With a simple bluetooth connection, you'd be good to go.

What about safety? I'd argue the added "safety" technology is just an illusion. The indicator lights on the dash and in the sideview mirrors whenever you're "too close" to a car or object are super distracting. As soon as you get up on the interstate, your eyes start twitching uncontrollably side to side in response to the side view proximity lights. "No officer, I haven't been drinking, my nystagmus is a side effect of driving my brand new car." And, even though everyone has backup screens these days, people still can't parallel park or get out of a grocery store parking without restarting the process no less than 10 times.

I also don't need to talk to my car. "Alexa, ask Jeep how much gas is left in my car." I bet you'd know if you didn't have to tap three times on a screen to see your fuel gauge.

I really don't know who these new vehicles are designed for. "Alexa, ask Jeep to accelerate and drive us off that cliff."

I'm surprised the article didn't mention Mazda. Their research lead them to focusing on tactile feedback, reducing reliance on the touch screen, and minimizing driver distraction.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1121372_why-mazda-is-pur...

I'm perfectly happy with the touch screen in my Tesla S 70D. It has rid the car of the ridiculous clutter of buttons, dials, knobs, and switches that seem to be just sprinkled all over most other cars.

All the critical functions of the car are controlled by steering column stalks, steering wheel scroll buttons and the brake and accelerator pedals, and the critical visual feedback is in the dashboard.

No ads have appeared so far.

What’s the problem with buttons? It’s a car, it’s main function is transportation, it should first serve transportation in safe manner then the showroom. To me the model 3 interior looks hideous, stripped of everything just to look futuristic.

I can't comment much on the Model 3 as I have never sat in one much less driven one. However, as far as I know the steering column controls are pretty much the same as on the Model S so as far as controls are concerned it's pretty much the same. The big difference is that there is no speedometer, etc., directly in front of the driver.

Most of the buttons on a modern car, in fact all cars I have owned, have little to do with transportation and much more to do with media selection and control and control of ancillary functions that are not directly to do with driving the car. I'm quite happy that those buttons have been collected in a set of screens instead of being littered all over the centre console.

This is my considered opinion after more than 20 thousand miles in the Model S and after more than forty years of driving a variety of British, Scandinavian, European, American, and Japanese cars.

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