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Allowing Silicon Valley dorks to redefine the established UIs of cars was one of the biggest mistakes of the last 10 years. Ultimately it's cost shaving, but it
by pudgywalsh 24d ago
Allowing Silicon Valley dorks to redefine the established UIs of cars was one of the biggest mistakes of the last 10 years. Ultimately it's cost shaving, but it spread like a cancer to other manufacturers owing mostly to a TikTok-brained customer base (to their own detriment).
It's one of the reasons I refuse to own a new car. Zero reason to hide critical controls behind a touch screen.
My daily driver has all tactile controls. I can operate wipers, climate, radio, and all critical functions blindfolded.
- frollogaston 24d agoIt's probably because they started mandating reverse cameras. Which is great, but any cars without screens suddenly had them. At that point, it was probably cheaper to put the rest of the functionality on the screen.
- mrtesthah 24d agoThis is ultimately a matter of corruption and a failure of government to regulate.
- deleted 24d ago[deleted]
- nxpnsv 24d agoReminder: You shouldn’t drive blindfolded, no matter how well you know your controls.
- boomlinde 24d agoYou shouldn't drive blindfolded, but have you given any thought to where your eyes should be pointed while driving?
- nxpnsv 24d agoI agree with the point, i hate the touch screens, and i think you should be able to control almost everything without taking your eyes off the road. The blindfold made me think of some david blaine stunt.
- roncesvalles 24d agoThe reason is cost savings. It's cheaper to modify software UI than it is to modify hardware UI.
- szundi 24d ago[dead]
- cicko 24d agoThere's no need to modify the hardware UI. It worked fine for decades.
- spockz 24d agoI heard a very simple explanation from a car engineer involved with setting up the factory pipelines. Each button has a limited life time, each button has a particular chance of being doa, or a particular chance of being fitted badly, some fail prematurely. All of this leads to an increase in “failures” in seperate steps of the manufacturing pipeline, assembly of dashboard, assembly of car, after the car is completed, after it is shipped to dealer, and after the new owner picks it up, during the lifetime of the car. Each of those moments occurs a significantly increased cost of replacing the button. By simply removing buttons and knobs, this source of failure rate goes down and it appears cheaper. It is also the reason behind going from 4 buttons for the windows to 3 (left, right, and a toggle for front/rear) According to him the monetary savings were significant enough to proceed with it. Personally, I wish they wouldn’t. But I believed the numbers.
- hulitu 23d ago> Each button has a limited life time A button for a car is designed and tested to last 10 years. Software on the other hand...
- andrekandre 24d ago> cheaper to modify software UI at some point, beyond aesthetics, sometimes a function is done and doesn't need tinkering anymore.... especially in something like a car that is 2 tonnes of steel and metal...
- dzhiurgis 24d agoIronically the most hated car features right now (speed limit warning and lane departure alerts) are designed by government. In fact they are hated so much people are deliberately buying older less safe cars instead.
- hulitu 23d ago> Ironically the most hated car features right now (speed limit warning and lane departure alerts) are designed by government. That's what car manufacturers make you think. Who do you think it (paid) lobby for those features to be mandatory in new cars ?
- maxerickson 23d agoBMW launched their unified iDrive controls in 2001 (to much controversy).
- hulitu 23d ago> Allowing Silicon Valley dorks to redefine the established UIs of... was one of the biggest mistakes of the last 10 years. Fully agree