You could easily adjust features in your car while looking at the road using plain old dials and buttons.
Mazda on the other hand has announced getting rid of touchscreens from their vehicles.
[1]https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2021/01/07/mercede...
[2]https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-ford-fusion-active-cuv-...
That module is positioned in such a way that water collects around it if the car gets sufficiently splashed from the front, and it dies even though the PCB is conformally coated.
Screens are much more likely to be tied to complex systems that could fail. Buttons talking to a BCM by grounding out wires is pretty simple and if there were ever a recall on a switch the part would be cheap.
It costs $600 and is faster than your computer.
P.S. imo voice is way to go together with touchscreens.
Can you provide a link to their commentary? I would like to read it in full.
Even latest Nissan's Leaf kinda sucks (poor battery thermal management).
Most driving interactions in a Tesla are through the stalk or knob rollers on the steering wheel (that adjust based on situation). It is very well thought out.
Voice is an option for nearly everything as well, and it is actually good.
The key is that they aren't locked into an outdated fixed UI. Blackberry lost because of their keyboard.
Finally, for the scattering of buttons in a traditional vehicle that are used rarely, you still have to visually scan the entire dash to find it and hope their icon is meaningful. This takes your eyes further from the road than a well positioned, responsive screen.
Fog lights for example.
I couldn't turn on fog lights in my ICE car without looking for the knob behind the steering wheel, and then fiddling with the options.
I've never driven a Tesla or another car with a touchscreen. I almost never need fog lights, so I wouldn't even know which knob to turn which way in my new car. Doesn't help that it's different for every car manufacturer. I'd actually prefer a touchscreen with big, properly labeled buttons for this.
Look, I'm not arguing for replacing physical controls with touchscreens, I'm just pointing out that it's not as clear-cut as some knob-proponents would have you believe.
Physical controls excel at repeated use though, because you develop muscle memory for it. Imagine if the blinkers had to be activated through the touch screen. That sounds completely ridiculous, right?
Again, you're arguing against a point of view which I've never professed.
Yes, of course it would be ridiculous if you had to activate your blinkers through the touchscreen. Did anyone claim otherwise? Are the blinkers in a Tesla controlled through the touchscreen?
Fair enough, but your argument that physical buttons aren't so great basically boils down to "they suck the first time". Which is correct, but in the long run they're simply superior.
I think a row of knobs along the bottom edge that correspond to the buttons/icons directly above would be the best of both worlds: flexibility of software-defined controls (except the number/spacing becomes fixed), with the tactility of real knobs.
Oh to have an unlimited budget.
Does the tesla know that I've changed heading and the sun is now providing some radiative heating and the thermostat can be turned down? Does it know that I got a chip off my windshield that affects the cameras, and I need to manually turn the windshield wipers (or brights, or etc) on and off every time a vehicle passes and sprays me? Maybe I just want a big ol' power/volume knob to turn it off and on easily without looking - most cars have those on the steering wheel and I hate them.
(To be clear, I love Tesla and I truly hope they continue to succeed - but even more, I hope Toyota et al get it through their thick heads that BEVs are the future and gain ground in a hurry. Competition should make everyone better...)
All (well, maybe only those manufactured within the last 5 or 10 years) cars have an auto temperature mode which regulates the temperature for you if it deviates from the set temperature.
No you don't.
Many drivers, including myself, will adjust thermostat controls simply through touch and feel.
Re-read the part that you quoted:
> > [...] that are used rarely [...]
Unless you rarely use the thermostat controls..?
The model S/X have better controls + a dashboard. Autopilot is controlled by a separate stalk.
That said, controlling lights and climate control with tiny touchscreen targets in a moving car is... ludicrous.
Controversial take. I think Blackberry lost primarily because of their locked-in/niche OS at a time when the app scene was exploding. The keyboard if anything was a compelling reason to stay with them, especially in the exec/professionals sector of the market.
If blackberry had successfully executed a full iteration of their build/design quality with Android OS at a point where they could have retained their enterprise dominance, I think they would still be a major player today.
But it didn't go that way (a major cause for which was the scale of change that would have been needed to pivot BES/BIS early enough). I don't think the keyboard contributed to Blackberry's demise.
That weird scroll nubbin, on the other hand.... and let's not forget the 'haptic' touch on the Storm.
I would say that a modern swipe keyboard after training by far beats old style BB keyboards (not real computer keybords where you can use up to 10 fingers).
I still miss my blackberry for sending emails. There were keyboard shortcuts for everything too, like press F to forward or R to reply, q to expand display names to email addresses.
You could also assign tasks for when you held down a key at the home screen.
Most models also had a dedicated hardware mute button with distinct tones for mute/unmute.
If you were a heavy user they were much quicker than touch screens.
They just sucked at anything unrelated to email, and weren't great for most users who never bother to learn their tools and become efficient.
You have to scan the dash roughly in the area you recall the button may be, and identify it visually. After that, you can return your gaze to the road, while your hand finds and manipulates the button. Touchscreens require you to focus your eyes on the button for all the time it takes to find it, press it, and confirm the UI actually registered the press.
Maybe different trim levels move more things to physical buttons than touch screens?
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a29654225/analysis-the...
https://www.br-automation.com/en/about-us/press-room/say-goo...
https://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2019/11/2021-Ford-...
What's even crazier to me is the way futuristic movies depict interfaces that float in the air. Has anyone thought that through? Your arms would get tired so fast. There's a reason our best input methods have our arms resting on a surface.
This has been known since 1963. Not kidding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad
That was the first complete light-pen system that could be used by a non-programmer. Sutherland immediately declared the light pen was a stupid idea because all the blood drains out of your hand.
Top top that dials/knobs are more reliable than buttons.
I still covet the Honda Civic/Accord 2004-2008 dashboard. I didn't even use the steering mounted controls as the knobs were so easy to use.
I've driven a model 3 and I find the gigantic tablet to be not only distracting but impossible to safely interact with while driving. Maybe I'd get used to it but I heavily rely on the tactility and feel of buttons and dials to know what I'm doing while keeping my eyes on the road.
It was not a pleasant surprise when I was looking at some mid 2010 Ford Super Duties and wanted to research what it would take to add in an Apple CarPlay head unit. (wasn't added an option from the factory until 2017). Turns out if you get a Lariat or even a well optioned out XLT you get saddled with a touch screen that integrates nonsense like the HVAC and heated seats. The interface is dreadful and you'd be stuck with it for the life of the vehicle. Thanks for nothing Ford.
(you know, it could be because touch sensors don't work with space gloves)
I'm with you on this, but it's a pretty great example of when a touchscreen isn't a safety hazard: very unlikely I'll want to pop the trunk while I need to keep my eyes on the road.
Edit: just realized this is probably what Apple will end up doing.
I never understand this. Unless the interface has like, no more than 2 buttons on it, I'm no better at using buttons than a touch screen. Are people regularly interfacing with complex analogue button systems without even glancing at them?
at least some tesla UI requires touchscreen interface for things such as wiper control [1]. normally this is a lever and tactile knob, with zero distraction potential and no learning curve beyond where to put your hand.
personally, i've memorized the stereo controls of every car i've driven more than a few times.
I do and it is strictly inferior to keyboard.
Also, there was a case locally not too long ago where a victim of a bloody knife attack almost bled out trying to unlock their phone and dial 911 with bloody fingers.
Can't find what you're looking for on Google, but Apple has been trying to fix this by allowing you to press the lock button 5 times to bring up emergency SOS. There's also an 'emergency' button on the passcode screen.
The distressed person to know about the workaround.
The distressed person to remember the workaround.
The home button or whatever fancy biometric unlocking to work with a bloody finger or face.
The emergency button on the touchscreen to recognise the bloody finger keypress attempts.
I think emergency calls work on most phones without unlocking. My android phone is locked with a pin and that input screen has the option to make an emergency call.