Try tapping in the very bottom right corner with one finger. There's an invisible button that shows the fake Driving Directions UI. Then tap on that with 5 fingers at once to make the hints appear. They are just static graphics too though.
Fair points. I'm most excited about this actually:
>...good ideas here that could be used in other domains.
I'd love to see more touch UIs that serve as secondary input mechanism for something else. If I had a big color picker for Photoshop in my iPad I would already be ecstatic!
> Not the author, but the way I see it this is specifically an interface for adjusting things eyes-free when driving. In an actual implementation, there would be some sort of physical switch between the in-drive control (demoed here) and a high-density "at rest" operation for passengers or more specific tasks (e.g. configuring the GPS).
The thing is though: What if in the future, every car primarily has touch interfaces? Touch screens certainly took over a lot of other product categories by storm. I'd rather be on the side of exploring out-there concepts now, and hopefully have some cool solutions in the future.
In the future cars will drive you. You'll pay higher insurance premiums to have the right to drive the car yourself.
Touch screens that you have to actively look at to interact with will still be distracting and therefore I cannot see how they will become a primary interface of future driving. Voice command with feedback will take over here when it is mature enough.
If you look closely in the beginning of the video, you'll see that I'm proposing for this to be a special mode that would only be invoked from time to time. So as you are suggesting: It's all about showing the right controls at the right time.
The beauty about touch screens as input mechanisms is that they can obviously show an infinite number of interfaces. I absolutely agree that there's a right time for the right interface. My proposal is just one possible way to use a touch screen for input.
