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Comment by tqi | Hacker News Reader

> The aspiration seems to be an LCD version of the gauges and dials that were in a B-17 bomber over Germany in World War II. The computers on board the aircraft had all of the information that they needed to warn the crew “you can’t hold altitude at this power setting” long before they came anywhere near stalling.

I feel this way in cars as well - with a full LCD infotainment center why am I still forced to try and interpret inscrutable indicator lights?

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Because if the automakers were left to their own devices, the infotainment display would need to show a loading bar before an ABS warning, and the speedometer would be buried there menus deep.

Because they don’t distract.

Nothing I hate more than my Audi loudly beeping for non-critical infos/warnings. The only appropriate time for a car to loudly beep unprompted is if I need to stop immediately.

I agree. If I want to drive at 15km/h without a seat belt in an empty car park the car shouldn't be beeping at me at 50 decibels warning me of immediate death.

This reminds me of the BMW 3 degrees C bling. Which is the same bling as parking sensors dirty and thus no longer reliable.

My 2019 Subaru Outback will at least display things like "low fuel" and "low tire pressure" on the center display as well as on the drivers mini display. I haven't gotten into any check engine situations, or anything really scary like overheat or low oil pressure, but IMO even the data from a scan tool is somewhat inscrutable if you are not an expert.

Check engine light can mean 100s of things. It would be cool to see the actual codes on the infotainment. Why do I need to hook up an OBD scan tool?

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