A new vehicle interface
minimallyminimal.com
minimallyminimal.com
When driving, you often care about acceleration as much as speed. Digital displays are horrible for indicating first and second derivatives; analog dials are great for first and adequate for second.
The best UI on a car I've seen (as far as actually driving it) is the Audi -- a Driver Information Display directly in line with the driver (showing next turn), and a center area. There's a reason for going for all-red indicators -- night vision. In rural areas, you often dial down the brightness of all controls to preserve night vision in case an animal or debris is in the road. If you're on I-5 driving from Seattle to SF, there aren't a whole lot of turns, so your nav system is really secondary (if on at all), and there's no reason for it to be in your line of sight.
For great designed interiors for drivers, I'd look to Audi, Porsche, and go from there.
When driving, I'd consider audio nav information to be primary, followed by simple next turn information, followed by a (north-centric, vs. vehicle bearing) map. 95% of the time the only nav info I need is "left turn in 200 meters, 100 meters, 50 meters, now", since I'm focused on other cars rather than my display. It's only with complex intersections (roundabouts, 5-6 way intersections where grids overlap, etc.) that I need to see the display.
Audio is inherently more minimal than visual information, so a car really needs to get it right. Simple things like the order of words in notifications, how frequently they happen, tones vs. words, etc. make a huge difference, and require design vs. advanced graphics to get right.
The idea of a "built-in digital manual that guides you through maintenance and emergency situations" is also nothing new; it sounds like the ECAM system found on Airbus airplanes for many years and would be equally inapplicable to most automotive emergencies. If there is a serious problem with a car, the driver should pull over and stop, after which there is plenty of time to consult the index in a printed manual, which doesn't depend on the electrical system and can be used outside or away from the vehicle, if needed.
Cars really should have novice (rental) and expert (personal car) mode. I think people spend enough time in their own personal cars to get to know most systems, but if I am renting or borrowing a car, a standard UI would be nice -- even stupid things like finding parking brake, 4 way flashers, headlight controls, etc are sometimes a pain.
When a navigation command is coming up (turn right on US-1), it shows a little progress bar indicating when you have to turn, an arrow pointing the direction to turn, the name of the road, and the speed in smaller text: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonzoesc/7176906639/sizes/h/in/...
When the song changes on satellite radio, or you tune the radio, it shows the artist and song title temporarily.
As far as getting a secondary read on acceleration vs. speed, I'm spoiled by driving manual, and I generally know how I'm accelerating based on pedal position, current gear, and engine note. The only car that's really scared me with a lack of speed feel was the Nissan Murano, with a continuous transmission and no changing engine note from about 30mph to 90mph.
In any urban driving condition, looking at your instruments long enough to gauge your acceleration by them is a good way to crash into something.
Knowing to the 50 meter increment where the next turn is isn't so helpful when there are multiple branching exits right next to each other. Being able to visually see at a glance where a turn is in relation to where your car presently is makes shit so much easier. No matter how good the audio is, it's not going to be easier than just seeing where you're supposed to go.
My car tells me "next left" or "second left" (and "onto streetname") in addition to distance. That seems ideal for most situations.
Isn't north-centric map confusing for you in such situations? I know it is for me. Vehicle bearing maps take away one quite expensive mental step of translating and rotating your world to fit the map (or vice versa) in your imagination. I personally always prefer maps oriented in the direction where I'm heading, to the point that I always rotate paper maps in my hand so that it is constantly aligned with the direction I'm looking at. I wonder if anyone else does the same?
- information is divided in three distinct physical and logical areas: 1. primary, topmost 2. secondary, behind the steering wheel and 3. tertiary, centermost. The entire dashboard is designed to reduce information overload and let the driver focus on actual driving.
- the primary area sits topmost, right in front of the driver. It holds the most critical pieces of information: frontmost and unmistakable, the speed, in huge, high contrast lettering. On the left, the rev alert: six orange leds, off most of the time, light up as you get close to the limiter. On the right, the display differs according to the version: Type-R gets a logo and a red i-VTEC led when the aggressive valve timing engages, while other models get a symmetric indicator similar to the rev alert, showing the ECU logic regarding fuel injection, which gets presented as 'Eco' leds: the less fuel is in injected regarding the map, the more leds light up. Big bright green turning indicator arrows are present in this area too, one on each side of the speedo.
This display stands up and far. it can bee seen by far-sighted people (presbyopia) without glasses. Like a HUD, I can actually read it while looking at the road in front of me. When looking far away ahead, the information is shown in such a way that I can, at the bottom edge of my vision, notice changes in display and evaluate revs/eco. Leds "progress bars" light up two at a time, making changes visible even without focusing.
- the secondary area gives richer information, but sits closer to the driver. The area is actually three-dimensional: the centermost display sits on a black 'tower' and the needles themselves are noticeably above the digits. The lightning makes the tower invisible, and the needles pop out even more which reinforce the sense of depth. The minimum of information is shown (revs, fuel, engine temperature), and more as required (lights state, other system warnings and alerts). The LCD on the center 'tower' can display select information at will. When an event is triggered (low fuel, oil, door opened...) this display turns orange, with both a pictogram and text explaining the condition. When any alert pops up, there is an audible chime, along with a bright orange (i) notification on the right side of the primary area. This notification stays up until you manually clear it.
- tertiary gives accessory information: time, audio, A/C, satnav (if applicable). The dashboard being drawn along an arc, the display faces the driver (really visible in [2]). The recess is made such that the passenger can see this display, but the primary consumer of the information is the driver.
- from the steering wheel and the gear stick, every important button is within fingers reach. Every secondary button requires minimal movement. Thanks to the enveloping arc shape , the car fits the driver, like a hand in a glove.
From outside, the car is (love it or hate it) unlike any other, and this is enough to warrant curiosity from both relatives and random people. When looking at the cabin, the words "Star Trek" have yet to fail to be mentioned. It's an entirely fresh design that strike many as odd and gimmicky, but that I find extremely convenient and well thought, with every detail having a reason to be.
Compare and contrast with the proposed design, which like many designs before, crams all levels of information in a single display area (two screens side by side is a single area), facing the area between the two front seats (I'm sure the dog in the boot loves to see where he's going and at which speed). Display in the center is an atrocity. People have a tendency to go where they look, and if they look at the center display, their line of sight is outside the road, and uselessly increases the left blind spot. Making the farside display touch make sit even worse. Not only will it bring in the gorilla arm effect, the body of the driver is required to move far from its proper driver position.
[0] http://wowallpaper.com/wallpapers/civic-type-r-dashboard-128...
[1] http://www.km77.com/marcas/honda/2006/civic/gama/gra/35.jpg
[2] http://www.eurodb.com.au/New-used-car-review/wp-content/uplo...
My Audi A3 was the best car ive ever owned. I did have my navigation always on, but because I like to have a constant ETA.
I would drive from SF to Tahoe/Reno every weekend and I looked forward to the drive because it was so pleasurable, especially when I got up into the mountains.
Driving 120 in that car felt like going 60, with faster visuals.
Audis are, IMO, the best cars made (that are still in an affordable range)
They sprung for a non-standard display size that is super-wide, which means you can show two things at once. I have it configured to always show navigation directions on the right 1/3, and switch the left 2/3 between map or music, or whatever.
They also have a heads-up display which is awesome. It uses computer vision to detect road signs and show me the most up to date speed limit, shows me my speed right next to that, and the next turn coming up. When I switch through my iPhone playlist, it replaces the turn directions with the playlist, same when someone calls in. It's completely non-distracting and right in my field of vision while I'm driving, looks like it's just "floating" in front of the car.
Then they have the iDrive rocker, which moves left/right/up/down plus spins to select more complicated things, like moving through a playlist or typing directions into the GPS. It means that I keep a very natural driving position even if I'm controlling something in the car, with one hand on the wheel and my right hand by my side.
In order to do even a mundane task like entering an address, you have to sit there and fiddle until you select the right letters. Even though it has GPS features built-in, I still use a separate unit because it's significantly easier to manipulate while driving.
I have a BRZ now and you can type on the screen as fast as you like. It is unreal.
(also, someday I am going to go bonkers from looking up stuff on one computer (phone) and typing it into another (car).)
Other instances where analog has been desired over digital:
* those brightness adjustment sliders in presentation rooms
* video game controllers
I'm sure there are more.
Try and dial a phone number on an iphone without looking at it. It can't be done. But with an old-style push button phone, you can actually do this. Not that you would want to, but it's to point out the difference between having a dedicated interface vs touchscreens.
My dad and I were a bit cavalier when working an ATM outside a bank of america (it was outside, not within a security door). Normally we would count money at the ATM itself but this particular one didn't have good sides, so anyone could see that we withdrew 500 dollars. Someone followed us, stepped into the car and drew a knife, and told us to drive.
He saw my dad's blackberry in the car and took it (to stop us from calling). Thanks to hard buttons (years before the first iphone, I had what you would call a "feature phone"), I was able to quietly text my mom (phone in my pocket) to call the cops. Fellow made the mistake of telling us where to drive before we got there, and fortunately the cops were aware of the situation, so the cops were able to apprehend the guy where we let him off.
Despite having used the iphone for many years, I still don't know a consistent sequence of actions to get me to the messaging screen, select my mom, and send a specific message without looking at the phone
The last time I tried to find the volume knob for the audio in the dark was yesterday. I have both steering wheel controls + dash knob for volume level. The steering wheel controls +/- are actually shaped differently, for the expres s purpose of changing volume without taking your eyes off the road.
First up, the speedo is not only about the number, but also the position of the needle. I don't need to know if I'm doing 110 or 111, but the position of the needle will tell me at a very quick glance if I'm venturing towards 120 or slowing to 90
Second - I thought we'd decided adjusting volume by anything other than a physical turning dial was a poor way to do it about 10 years ago.
Then there's other odd things like 83% oil - what sort of use is a figure like that? Is that good or bad? Oil pressure is what I need to know, and even then a simple binary ok/not ok is sufficient
Possibly the main problem is that there's not really much wrong with displays as they are. I can see my speed and rate of acceleration, rpm, warning lights etc at a glance. I can dim them to my liking. And, importantly, anyone else driving one of my vehicles can very quickly acclimatise themselves and feel confident driving it. With the way things are currently, there's really only two things I need to figure out when I hop into a car i haven't driven before - which side of the steering column the indicators are on, and where the headlight switch is
As to the ring around the number, well I'm more confused going back and looking at it again. Sometimes, like [2] it's a single colour, and others, like [3] it's divided into multiple segments. 12/14mph is slow, so I'd expect to see the ring extend not as far as it does. I'd expect it to extend that far around for speeds like 70mph
Another thought - the little mpg/regen graph is prominent but largely useless. However, if speed and acceleration were added it could be a very useful tool in working out which driving conditions give best economy
[1] http://www.minimallyminimal.com/storage/post-images/doko/d13...
[2] http://www.minimallyminimal.com/storage/post-images/doko/f07...
[3] http://www.minimallyminimal.com/storage/post-images/doko/d10...
Interesting point from ye olde days when they had banks of gauges, such as you might find measuring pressure in a power plant: the gauges were generally calibrated such that the 'normal' value had the needle pointing straight up. That way you can have an entire bank of gauges monitored with little more than a glance - a needle out of alignment is quickly obvious. By comparison, if they were number readouts, you'd need to individually focus on each one.
You're not the first to say this here, and it honestly has me surprised. My Civic did away with the needle entirely, and has a numeric digital display. I have not even once missed it. Acceleration is something your body can easily gauge, velocity is not.
If you're at 110 kph and you can't tell whether you're slowing down or speeding up, we have significant physiological differences.
Why is there a graph plotting MPG and Regen (what is regen btw)? Why is there only one gear state (I use the dash to see where to shift gears)? Why do I need a wifi icon to tell me whether I have wifi or not?
Regen shows how much energy you got back by slowing down our breaking.
The effects of looking away from the road are pretty well known and they are bad. In this study [1] for example, noticeable differences in concentration and lane position/drift were seen when participants were just quickly glancing at the screen of a GPS. Now imagine you are not just looking at that screen, but trying to touch it in the right place (accidentally hitting the wrong button, getting frustrated etc.). These problems really have to be solved before replacing commonly used functions in cars with touch screens and this design does not adequately address them.
First, the parts of a car that the driver should be looking at with their central vision are relatively far from where their hands should be. Because touch screens are nearly impossible to use without looking at them, they positively require the driver to be staring at something other than the road.
Finally, unless you've got glass-smooth pavement or exceptionally compliant suspension, steadying your hand in front of the display in a moving vehicle is nearly impossible.
That's why for years (well-designed) cars have had a combination of knobs and relatively stiff switches rather than myriad little indistinguishable buttons.
Especially considering how trivial it is to implement force feedback on a knob, I'm surprised that no car maker or aftermarket vendor is making use of it.
Just from my eyballing of the layout, that touchscreen on the right side of the panel will be out of reach for a significant number of drivers.
I don't really have a problem with the aesthetics or the graphic design - he consistently shows creativity and design chops. In fact, a lot of his points are pretty good. However, the final product is a bit shallow and while pretty, has some half baked ideas that don't contribute to an overall great product design that's not usable. It solves some problems, but ultimately doesn't solve some of the more important problems with driving nav these days (and perhaps exacerbates them)
I think this demonsttrates why areas like human factors exist and are needed in the design process. We shouldn't neuter designers at the beginning, but refine and distill designs like these into something even better
I'm not sure if it's feasible though. to use Android as an example, not every Android ever released can run jellybean. It still requires newer hardware at some point.
Phone or portable navigation is such a pain to use. Charging cables, mounts, don't forget to hide it when parked in a not-so-nice-area, don't forget to put it back.
I miss always present, always charged and nicely integrated with the car audio built-in nav system.
Every time I ride with someone who has in car GPS they moan about the user interface and often don't use it anyway due to stale map and POI data.
I have a _very_ bad feeling about that.
Both of these things have been done, and of course, their worth is in the eyes of those making the money.
This is one of those projects that is cool to look at, but is too focused on being "cool" rather than functional. It seems as though more effort was put into type and layout than improving the actual driving experience.
I was sorely disappointed... this is just another rehash.