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Wow!

Just trying to understand the chart, the highest bar is a 57% increase on one second?

📌

Not all touch screens are created equal either. I've experienced varying brands and designs since 2008. My old 08 Lexus IS250 and my current Jeep Grand Cherokee are my favorite. They're large enough that I can quickly see the map, which is my main use. I use buttons or knobs for everything else.

Needs shamed like drunk driving and at least some penalties legally

this is why i'm for car auto pilots. Humans are too terrible at everything.

You guys are killing it again. Happy Monday. This is mind blowing.

yeah where is the drunk driver reaction here lol

100%. And if you are on even remotely less than perfect surfacing, it's even worse. I hate the touchscreens. I'm not fond of Mercedes touch-pad either, but at least it's at the center console and you're not trying to reach to the center dash. Only slightly less awful. #buttonsknobsandswitchesohmy

Same thoughts I had 15 years ago. Turns out those thoughts were correct.

Also a car i fix by my goddamn self!

I second that motion!!

Most cars have some level of lane change alerts or braking when the car ahead brakes. This is what should be mandated.

Tech types again prove an inability… or more likely reluctance to “Think it through” As Zuckerberg said, “Move fast and break things” DOES! @jay.bsky.team @olepal.bsky.social @robbin.bsky.social @urbanperspectiv.ai @jaynenebula.bsky.social @kattenbarge.bsky.social @essh12.bsky.social

Remember when cars didn't have software bloat?

Duh!

It should be mandatory to have physical buttons for every frequently used feature (heating, AC, music, etc). And companies that pushed touchscreens should be fined retrospectively to pay for the increase of accident they caused.

What with touch screens and over bright, dazzling headlights it's surprising anyone can drive properly anymore!

I love my touch screen in my Subaru Crosstrek, but am cognizant of how dangerous it is to take eyes off the road for more than a split second.

But how will they force more AI onto us in our cars with buttons and knobs?

Could not agree wit this more. Increase fan or temperature would be turning a knob I didn’t even have to look at and now takes two screens and multiple touches I have to at least glance over at. And why when my CarPlay starts does the car have to give me a warning and make me confirm every time

Buttons all the way. Maps on screens/augmented overlay seem to work well. Love having a few programmable buttons too

I won't be popular because I like touchscreens, since there are a lot of functions which is impossible (or impossibly convoluted) by buttons only. Also they're flexible, and comfortable. But I prefer to have physical buttons for functions fitting them, like switches and knobs. But not for map.

Thoughts? Haptics are good, anybody with half a brain already knew this, the people in charge of car companies are greedy idiots who should be put in jail for allowing this to get so far. The NHTSA is corrupt and needs to do their damn jobs. Unlikely under this corrupt administration though.

I prefer buttons to screens 100%. Backup camera, GPS, safety alerts - those are fine. But my A/C, radio, etc should be buttons, knobs, dials, maybe even a couple cranks… Whatever happened to those great temp/fan sliders from the 80’s. I want those back.

I like my Hyundai. Buttons on the console, buttons on the steering wheel, and touchscreen when I want it. Best of both worlds. As someone who drives for a living, I use the touchscreen a lot- just not much while in motion.

Bring back dials. I regularly rant to my husband about the lack of dials these days. They are super easy to use while driving.

oops my distracted driving machine causes distracted driving

Man, I miss having government regulations

Voice commands are even more distracting

I hate voice commands. "Hey Alexiri, turn down temperature" is a much more involving and distracting thing than a quick turn of a knob.

Why are they better? It actually takes longer to say what you want than to touch a button / turn a knob. And actually takes more brain activation. And who else in the car needs to hear "raise cruise control speed setting to 85"?

Definitely too far.

Quoting a reaction time of 1 second for an "undistracted" driver presupposes they were not reaching for a button, slider, etc. That's not what "undistracted" means.

Rented a car recently with CarPlay installed and it was such a pain in the ass to deal with.

📌

“Undristracted”

Yep. Focus. Drive the car. The rest can wait.

Tesla touchscreen confusion has killed several in the US already. The US Navy has had at least 2 ship collisions. Of course they blamed poor kids at the helm, though NTSB blamed controls. But at least they started switching back to physical throttles. www.someweekendreading.blog/tesla-unsafe...

I’ve been looking at purchasing a used car simply to get physical buttons. Downside is I want updated electronics for navigation, etc.

Excellent. Next make cars w/out GPS allowing your location/speed to be tracked by manufacturers, law enforcement, insurance companies, etc I just want an ANALOG sports car with 2 doors, 3 pedals, and no computers except the engine management ECU. It's why I stick to cars from the 00's and earlier

Good, now delete the Spyware.

Looks like it is just the NCAP, and not any specific regulatory body - NCAP does carry a lot of weight though.

Touchscreens are a danger and a spof in a car, never should have been authorized !

Thank God! When I needed a car I deliberately got a nice used one without the stupid screen. If you shouldn't use your phone while driving what geniuses thought it was fine to need those?? SMDH

Touch screen response is the worst. I click to turn on or off the AC, and wait like 10 seconds for it to respond. If I'm not thinking, I end up clicking it multiple times, which gets unpredicatable results.

Real buttons are luxury.

You don't have to look away from the road to turn air conditioning nob or find your window button. Finding functions on screens is very distracting. I'm glad car makers are finally realizing that & not choosing flash over substance.

My favorite phrase for my relatively smart Toyota Highlander "smart car, not smart enough".

I suspect this will improve in the future, as they employ AI to handle alternative words/phrases.

Finally! Touch buttons on steering wheels are also nutz.

Good. Automotive touch screens are an abomination

I'd also love to hear why hands free driving is allowed to be offered as an option. If your hands aren't on the wheel, what are your hands, and eyes, doing? It's literally an "anti- safety" device.

One of many reasons we didn't buy a Tesla.

Touchscreens have always been a dumb idea in a car.

It was OBVIOUSLY a bad idea but they did it anyway.

The control button on the center console that allows you to do everything while your right arm is in the armrest position should be standardized and a regulatory requirement.

They are really good for backing up and for viewing a map though.

Yeah. I remember presets on push button radios. That's fine for local.

They already have that limitation and sometimes it is stupid cause even the passenger can’t change certain settings while moving.

Touch screens in cars are just more proof that tech people are shoving their crap down our throats at every opportunity they can get.

This is a case where automakers could learn from military aircraft designers - especially with fighter jets. They’ve got decades of experience in designing cockpits for human factors, minimizing head-down time, reaction time, etc.

Exactly. I don't think there's even enough area to go 100% buttons. I remember some vehicle from 10-20 years ago where the center IP/console was nothing but tiny buttons, which was a different sort of hell. It's fine to move the less-used functions to a touchscreen.

Finally!!!!!!!! It took them 15 years to figure this out How many accidents, deaths happened because of this hare brained idea

Not to pick nits with one of the last bright spots left in journalism, but I do not believe anybody thinks this is amazing

Thank Europe for that.

Know what else really sucks? No gearshift! My little car is lovely on almost every way except two: 1) no lock on the glovebox and 2) no gearshift. They use big flat buttons! That’s fine in the parking lot; out on real roads it’s good to have eyes on the road and a hand on the stick. Muscle memory.

Touchscreens remove “muscle memory”. You can’t offload it.

Next up, water is wet. I am so happy they are going back to buttons and switches. 🎉

I wish cell phone manufacturers would follow suit. I now use voice texting as using my fingers results in my choosing incorrect letters 100% of the time. The iPhone would be perfect if it had buttons.

considering that I can mess with buttons while looking at the road, but not a screen, this makes perfect damn sense

Just recently drove a Chevy Traverse, and that damn screen felt like navigating a freaking spaceship! I hated everything about it. Couldn’t find how to manually turn on the lights 😵‍💫

On one commercial aircraft I flew all the switches on the overhead panel were uniquely shaped so you could identify each one in the dark in case of an electrical failure. Not a bad idea.

I saw an ad for them yesterday!

As they should be!!!

I wouldn’t mind a good combination of the two with a HUD providing the information directly in front of the driver. Steering controls that aren’t cumbersome would be beneficial.

This is why Mazda has the best infotainment setup....

Two things that the Chevy Blazer EV I liked were 1) buttons/knobs for the climate control and 2) door handles.

Still, if you're driving, having someone else extend into the middle of the car does still distract, if not even removing visibility from the driver. If someone needs to check something out touchscreen-wise, make it so the car has Miracast features to let the passengers change from the phone.

Nope, I'd prefer to try to make it quick as possible to get it done before it turns green.

Common sense is not so common.

Yay! I'll keep my 17-yo little car into auto manufacturers go back to simple buttons. I don't want my vehicle to be a big, mobile computer.

Nice. Some of never left cos the screens clearly increased the distracted driving time and was unsafe. Take the texting and video signs off freeways too and go back to still pics.

It's about time.

Are you suggesting that my current car, where the heated seat controls on the touch screen (and how I interact with them) change every f**king time they issue a software fix is less safe to drive than my last car, where they were a physical button in a known place?

This is a good reminder that things can be stupid even if everyone is doing it. Don’t be afraid to call out dumbness wherever it lurks.

The 2022 a6 allroad touchscreen interface was why we didn't buy an Audi. I don't want to drive an iPad.

Among U.S. drivers, an estimated 43% (56% of men, 29% of women) drove impaired by alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescriptions that aversely affect reaction time in the past 6 months. So not only are screens worse than being drunk/high, but lots of drivers are using them WHILE ALSO DRUNK AND/OR HIGH

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Yeeessss!

Anybody who has ever tried to touch type on an iPhone would already know this. The visual context switching needed for reading a touchscreen is far longer than the response time most drivers have in a potential accident.

They get much back-to-back traffic up there?

YES!

This is good news. I hate figuring out where to touch when I'm driving. Give me buttons!

Not amazing at all. Easily predicted. About time controls are coming back.

You can buy USB type-M keyboards! (Yes, I have several) www.pckeyboard.com/page/product...

Oooh can we get analog gauges and bench seats back? Or maybe just sell me an electric engine from the F150 I can drop into a ‘61 Lincoln with suicide doors 😍

Our EV has a nice mix of buttons and touch screen. Things we don’t have to access while driving—navigation, battery stats, etc.—are on the screen. More important stuff accessed more often while driving—volume, drive style, seat warmers, PNDR—are buttons on the wheel or easily accessed from the seat.

I recently bought a car with touchscreens that still has buttons for volume and climate. Much easier to use than other family cars which require diving thru multiple screens to change say, the temp.

End woke touchscreens in cars.