Buttons are back!

For many years I, troglodyte that I am, have had the opinion that cars are too bl**dy smart and complex for their, read our, own good. Next step ban all phone use in cars and those damn annoying beeping alarms. If you are not aware of what is going on within and outside the vehicle you are driving then you should not be driving it.
 
I've watched a relative driving a car with a touchscreen. Even though she is an excellent driver, and I felt perfectly safe at all times, the use of this bloody thing made me nervous, and I felt it was downright dangerous, even when used by a sensible, competent driver, in a sensible, safe manner in traffic and on the freeway. Being in the back seat allowed me to observe every action it required.

I fully support banning them, and Tesla's Autopilot system.
 
Ratbag said:
I've watched a relative driving a car with a touchscreen. Even though she is an excellent driver, and I felt perfectly safe at all times, the use of this bloody thing made me nervous, and I felt it was downright dangerous, even when used by a sensible, competent driver, in a sensible, safe manner in traffic and on the freeway. Being in the back seat allowed me to observe every action it required.

I fully support banning them, and Tesla's Autopilot system.
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I don't mind the touchscreen myself, I just use buttons on the steering wheel to make/answer/end calls.
I set Waze (maps/GPS) before I take off and it's all hands free from there on.

I do agree with you about searching through the menu though. Maybe they could do something to make it like Siri - Alexa etc. where it's all voice activated commands and acknowledgements. Then drivers wouldn't have to fiddle with knobs on the dash either, because drivers would still take their eyes off the road when fiddling with the knobs.
 
subyroo said:
I don't mind the touchscreen myself, I just use buttons on the steering wheel to make/answer/end calls.
I set Waze (maps/GPS) before I take off and it's all hands free from there on.
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Fair enough, Peter.
subyroo said:
I do agree with you about searching through the menu though. Maybe they could do something to make it like Siri - Alexa etc. where it's all voice activated commands and acknowledgements. Then drivers wouldn't have to fiddle with knobs on the dash either, because drivers would still take their eyes off the road when fiddling with the knobs.
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Once I have owned a car for a week, I never have to look for controls again. Good ergonomics decrees that all controls should be differentiated by touch alone. I far prefer the cruise control on the stalk in my SG to the controls on the steering wheel in SWMBO's SH. Steering wheels are for steering, IMO.
 
any idiot could have told them this, and I'm sure the car makers' UI engineers argued to keep buttons for many functions.

I'm guessing the push for touchscreens was purely economic. Its much cheaper to whack in a single integrated touchscreen and work out the UI with software, than it is to design and insert a number of separate buttons on the dash and wheel.
 
I like having buttons. But Tesla, that's different. And banning Tesla autopilot is a luddite dream.

In fact, I would ban 90% of drivers from driving if it were up to me!
 
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