My old person trait is that I think ‘ghosting’ is completely unacceptable and you owe the other person a face-to-face conversation.
My old person trait is that I think ‘ghosting’ is completely unacceptable and you owe the other person a face-to-face conversation.
I think cars should not be dependent on a touch screen for ANY of it’s functions (or really have one at all). They are more difficult to use than tactile buttons, distracting, and do not receive long term support from the OEM.
What do you do with a 10 year old car that runs but the touch screen nuked due to age, firmware bugs or mechanical damage? Ford isn’t going to be selling replacement units 10 years later and I have yet to see an ‘infotainment’ system that has aftermarket replacement considerations.
Yep. 100% agree. My new-ish Toyota RAV4 strikes an acceptable balance with touch screen vs real buttons/knobs. I don’t think anything critical is on the touch screen except maybe the equalizer. The touch screen isn’t massive either, but big enough to have a useful backup camera display.
Totally agree with this one.
I drive an old 06 and I much prefer using the the physical buttons to adjust things like music, volume, air settings. Even prefer using it to back up and having to use my mirrors and look back.
My '18 vehicle is all touch screen, cameras,etc. While the a/c functions better and I don’t feel like my fillings are going to fall out from all the rattles and bumps, I find there is a real disconnect. I am even asked by others why I lean over and look at the back window when reversing.
I work in tech and I don’t trust tech.
“If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology—and you don’t understand your problems.” - Bruce Schneier
Yeah, I have the same experience: if you’ve worked long enough in Tech you know its limitations and all the ways it can go wrong hence being a bit skeptical about “high”-tech solutions for things which work fine already with “low”-tech.
Also, you’re well aware that deep down it’s still people having made all the decisions about how it works, only it’s people one level away from end-users (people doing stuff directly for people see how actual recipients of the services react and respond, people doing stuff which then does stuff for people, do not) so the design is often worse when there is Tech in the middle. This explains the fashion-following fad of using of touch screens in cars for functions that are interacted with when a person is driving and supposed to be looking at the road.
I spent a decade as am automotive locksmith, and watching things regularly fail on cars that passed through my shop has made me terrified with the touch screen. I cannot imagine replacing one of those and how easily first parties can lock replacement behind getting it done at one of their shops.
“Wait, who are you? How did you get in my car?”
“I’m a locksmith, and I’m a locksmith.”
One of the many reasons I am glad I don’t own a car. Touchscreens are only useful for navigation stuff, everything else should be with physical buttons so you could operate it without looking away from the road for even a fraction of a second.
Yes! I love my car’s touchscreen for navigation and CarPlay, but having physical buttons for volume, A/C, etc was a must.