the 2 persistent themes in these threads:There is such a thing as human factors/ergonomics. How the human interacts with the machine. It matters in aircraft design. Apparently it matters in warship design. And it should matter in cars, as the robots haven’t killed us off yet.
If texting and driving kills pedestrians and causes fatal collisions, how is a touch screen even remotely safe? Basic tasks such as turning on headlights, adjusting A/C fan, changing radio station, or turning down the radio volume shouldn’t take 3-4 touch screen pushes and sub-menus: this is inherently distracting and unsafe. And no, I shouldn’t have to pull my car off the freeway just to safely silence a Luke Bryan or Morgan Wallen song. I should just be able to spin a dial and turn down the volume.
(1) all touch screen are the same, just as all physical controls are the same
(2) basic controls are so cognitively difficult to people that it becomes a critical safety factor
all implementations are not the same. headlight control - that people assume are automatically superior when controlled by knobs - are on the right stalk of some cars, left stalk of some cars, or on the panel of other cars. this is on recent model Fords, at the base of the steering column, obscured by the wheel. you know by muscle memory that you can reach this blindly?
this is an old-world set of controls from the best seller toyota camry. people want to do things such as change the sound while driving. they usually press Setup, scroll to Sound, toggle between Bass and Treble, and then adjust it. It's not the most direct thing in the world, but people do do it, and im not sure theyre causing wrecks because of it? i missed out when people were complaining the display was too small when finding their XM station...
nevermind the fact that basically on all cars for over a decade, volume control is on the steering wheel, and headlights are set to auto.
it really feels like people who have driven 1 car for 20 years, get a rental for the first time, and then ascribe all their unfamiliarity to a single thing -- the touchscreen.
Statistics: Posted by hunoraut — Tue Nov 05, 2024 2:52 am — Replies 82 — Views 3023