This is precisely why I'm so infuriated so many people (me included until recently) aren't aware of the excellent alternative manufacturers like Mazda are offering in their cars, their Command Controller:
- no touch screens
- no embedded screen below the dash, instead screen is at instrument cluster height
- in center column, where your hand natural can rest, a palm-sized wheel:
- tactile feedback on rotation
- multi-directional shifts (cardinal & diagonal)
- pushing/clicking wheel is selection/confirmation
- finger tips buttons surround wheel with shortcuts:
- navigation (either CarPlay/Android Auto nav app or GPS)
- music (either radio or CarPlay/Android Auto currently playing music app)
- favorites (can be radio, satellite, etc.)
- home (one click -> CarPlay Home, double click CarPlay Dashboard with map & media)
- back
I've seen myriad folks passing judgement on these systems because they've lived with touch screens in cars for a very long time. I was lucky to skip that entire generation going from a minimal LCD digital screen straight to a Mazda with this system. It took a few weeks to feel comfortable, but not once did I ever feel as insecure as I have in a vehicle with an touch screen located below the instrument cluster line.
I think we've numbed ourselves to the routine distraction of touch screens which (generally) bypass most people's ability to mentally map physical buttons to specific actions. It's obvious as has been mentioned in this thread that touch screens are a massive cost saving (initially at least) and vehicle production timeline trick.
The huge missing story for touch screens is user experience and safety. The Mazda input system does take some time to learn, and it does divide my attention when I use it, but it has trained me to be more sparse with my interactions with the multimedia system and to rely far more on voice input control whenever I absolutely need to input data into the system (music selection, route finding, text response, etc.)
This isn't even getting into the surprisingly well-designed software and hardware intermingling that Mazda has accomplished between the instrument cluster (which features one central LCD gauge that mimicks the two real physical gauges that surround it) and the multimedia operating system navigation.
Here's some references for folks who find it interesting and are interested hardware/software design for safety in vehicles:
I've seen myriad folks passing judgement on these systems because they've lived with touch screens in cars for a very long time. I was lucky to skip that entire generation going from a minimal LCD digital screen straight to a Mazda with this system. It took a few weeks to feel comfortable, but not once did I ever feel as insecure as I have in a vehicle with an touch screen located below the instrument cluster line.
I think we've numbed ourselves to the routine distraction of touch screens which (generally) bypass most people's ability to mentally map physical buttons to specific actions. It's obvious as has been mentioned in this thread that touch screens are a massive cost saving (initially at least) and vehicle production timeline trick.
The huge missing story for touch screens is user experience and safety. The Mazda input system does take some time to learn, and it does divide my attention when I use it, but it has trained me to be more sparse with my interactions with the multimedia system and to rely far more on voice input control whenever I absolutely need to input data into the system (music selection, route finding, text response, etc.)
This isn't even getting into the surprisingly well-designed software and hardware intermingling that Mazda has accomplished between the instrument cluster (which features one central LCD gauge that mimicks the two real physical gauges that surround it) and the multimedia operating system navigation.
Here's some references for folks who find it interesting and are interested hardware/software design for safety in vehicles:
PS: not a Mazda shareholder or rep, just a happy owner, take that bias as you wish