Capacitive controls could be the cause of a spate of VW ID.4 crashes
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
The desk is otherwise great and was really inexpensive for what it is but it's a super frustrating design decision.
Switches Buttons Dials Knobs
and 3.5 mm jacks
But when was the last time and when is the next time you're going to change the behaviour of the "up" button on the steering weel to something like "switch to backwards gear" instead of "volume up" (the newest Volvo EX30 has touch buttons only on the steering wheel).
This argument is so dumb. This argument does not count for any replacement of knobs-to-touch-button, because there will (almost) never exist a use case for changing the behaviour of the button.
So IMHO manufacturers take something that worked and still works, replace it with something less error prone, simply to justify flexibility nobody asked for and noone will ever actually use.
Transferred to SWE, this is just overengineering.
It's not every button on every vehicle, but I have definitely had that conversation before when the hardware design is due to be finished before the product team is done changing things.
I'm not cool enough to have XLR on any of my devices.
XLR connectors are huge.
But yeah, you're not wrong, just tilting at windmills. I look forward to the demise of barrel jacks in particular, but USB is what will replace them.
And make the shape distinct enough that you can tell by feel!
A Tesla is an example of overuse of touchscreen and it feels like one's hands have been forced to wear large gloves that inhibit the usability. This combined with nested menus and an overall clunky UX is suitable for a prototype and rapid innovation of capabilities, but as the platform stabilizes the UX should include physical switches, dials, etc.
The more you can operate it without looking at it, the better.
I agree. I was using the example of Tesla (Ford also does it) making UX worse.
Honestly, it's impressed me.
Unless VW lets you engage cruise control when you’re very slow?
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But combine that with lackluster AEB, poor detection of stationary objects, and capacitive buttons and its a real problem.
So much so that we had to release a version of the firmware that allows the capacitive controls to be completely disabled, and its become quite popular among the user base.
I think it makes sense for a lot of things - high-performance control surfaces that will be engaged by the user constantly and with intent - but for the one-off features that are only seldom referenced by the user, it can be a real detriment to user satisfaction, especially when accidentally/unintentionally activated.
We've learned the lesson and only plan to integrate capacitive features where its needed most - for performance-oriented devices.
For example, the whole touch cluster on the left of the steering wheel, just below the vent, is a disaster. If I want to check the temperature of the air that's blowing into the cabin, I end up accidentally turning off the lights, turning on rear antifog lights, and turning on defroster heating for the windshield. The next minute or so is spent trying to get everything back to normal.
Also, all of the software on the ID.4 is a dumpster fire, but that's a story for another time. I'd be ashamed to ship something like this.
I'm sure metrics like this are studied to death by those actively in the UX field itself, but we don't have an established ratings agency that publishes them. If I'm buying a car, I'd like to know that it's rated F and know what to expect, just as if I see a movie is rated R.
No, it isn't. It's just fashion, like high heels. Not to mention that it's mainly a cost-saving measure.
Your fingers want a spring-loaded button that has some travel and resistance before activating. You can feel the button without looking at it, and rest your finger on it before deciding to activate.
The next day, the thing went completely haywire and would rapidly switch between modes without being touched.
Short story short, capacitive buttons suck and putting them on a steering wheel was a terrible decision. And the worst thing is that everybody complained when VW did this years ago. VW then claimed to have listened and promised a change, but kept on using them. For that reason alone I would never consider VW for a future vehicle. Something is pretty messed up there.
So they put them where they'd be brushed accidentally. On the steering wheel.
This is so ridiculous. I'd like to see exactly who decided that was a good idea. Was it engineers, or was it design/marketing/management?
As a German I'm aware we're falling behind on many fronts regarding technology and innovation. So obviously our automotive industry also was late with taking EVs seriously, and instead of trying to be innovative and deliver a solid product it's mostly "let's copy tesla and try to one-up them". So you get crap like this because touch controls are so modern wow.
The original design functions as an interlock where you have to turn cruise on on standby and then set speed separately, but pcap buttons make it so much easier to accidentally activate that it no longer serves its intended purpose.
Why does the resume button exist at all?
In my 2018 Toyota if you break while having cc on then cc is disabled, end of story.
And if I turn it back on it's set to my current speed. It's not adaptive though. But still, if you break it should be gone. No coming back to the previous hidden state.
I wouldn’t like it if I had to consciously stop at the intended speed though, that defeats the entire purpose.
I find it most useful for highway driving to resume my preferred speed after passing a slowdown.
> Pulling the lever toward you cancels the constant speed control. The speed setting is also canceled when the brake pedal is depressed.
> Pushing the lever up resumes the constant speed control. However, resuming is available when the vehicle speed is more than approximately 40 km/h (25 mph).
Page 315 of the 2018 Auris owners manual:
However "resuming is available when the vehicle speed is more than approximately 40 km/h" seems like a probably sufficient safeguard.
I am surprised that someone could not come up with this on their own: because it is more convenient than bringing the car back up to speed, getting it where you wanted it, then hitting the "CC" button again. Hit the brakes, then press the button and let the car bring it back to speed. It's not life changing, but a nice convenience feature. And it's been in cars for at the least the 50 years that I've been paying attention, probably longer.
The button that always mystified me was the "cruise control ON/OFF" button. Hit the ON button, but you still have to set the cruise control. Umm, why isn't it just ON all the time? Some cars had it, some didn't. I have never come to a reasonable UX/engineering reason for this.
Maybe the on/off button (I have it as well) is just additional safeguard against accidentally enabling super dangerous feature, which is defetead completely if it doesn't turn off on breaking and can be resumed.