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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday October 05 2017, @03:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the loose-nut-behind-wheel dept.

New vehicle infotainment systems can take drivers' eyes and attention off the road and hands off the wheel for dangerous periods of time, according to new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Drivers using in-vehicle technologies like voice-based and touch screen features were visually and mentally distracted for more than 40 seconds when completing tasks like programming navigation or sending a text message. Removing eyes from the road for just two seconds doubles the risk for a crash, according to previous research. With one in three U.S. adults using infotainment systems while driving, AAA cautions that using these technologies while behind the wheel can have dangerous consequences.

AAA has conducted this new research to help automakers and system designers improve the functionality of new infotainment systems and the demand they place on drivers.

"Some in-vehicle technology can create unsafe situations for drivers on the road by increasing the time they spend with their eyes and attention off the road and hands off the wheel," said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "When an in-vehicle technology is not properly designed, simple tasks for drivers can become complicated and require more effort from drivers to complete."

Does keeping your eyes on the road really matter when traffic is stand-still anyway?


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Thursday October 05 2017, @05:31PM (4 children)

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Thursday October 05 2017, @05:31PM (#577535) Journal

    This is what happens when you replace buttons and knobs with stupid touch interfaces. You can't feel for the controls anymore, you MUST look at a screen, while at speed, and try to focus on said screen and steady your hand to press the correct "button".

    You can do buttons, knobs, AND touch screens. What do people fumble for when driving? Answer: volume, temperature, fan speed, etc. Make those most used adjustable variables such as climate control, radio, cameras, and other "devices" quick access buttons lined up under the screen. Keep the button count small, no more than six. Maybe even make them user assignable with little LCD/OLED displays embedded in them to display the function. Then you give the user back a knob in the form of an encoder style knob. Change the radio volume? press the radio button and turn the knob. Change temperature? Press climate control and turn the knob. If there are multiple features assigned to one button, use the push feature of the knob to select the next feature displayed brightly and in large font across the screen with a progress bar UI element to display the amplitude as a bar graph. "FAN" "VOLUME" etc. Maybe someone already does this but there should always be easy access buttons on the dashboard. Touch screens are fine for UI's but no good when they become a distraction hazard.

    I used to have an iPod video, only Apple product I ever owned and was well designed. It was super easy to navigate and the button wheel controls were simple enough that you could skip tracks, rewind and pause/play without ever looking at the device. Even while driving. Touch phones completely suck compared to the old iPod. All you do is fumble for those little fucking buttons that float in the middle of the flat UI.

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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday October 06 2017, @12:49AM (2 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday October 06 2017, @12:49AM (#577733)

    You can do buttons, knobs, AND touch screens. What do people fumble for when driving? Answer: volume, temperature, fan speed, etc. Make those most used adjustable variables such as climate control, radio, cameras, and other "devices" quick access buttons lined up under the screen.

    This is basically just how any decent car does it. It's how the latest Mazdas all do it. There's a touchscreen, but the HVAC stuff is completely separate and uses knobs and buttons. And the infotainment has a big "commander" knob to use while driving, and a smaller volume/mute knob, plus a few buttons for switching between music and nav (plus home, favorites, and back). These knobs and buttons are on the center console so they're right at hand while you're driving. The knob is detented, so you can pretty easily do some simple functions without even looking at the screen. There's also a few buttons on the steering wheel: two phone buttons, plus a voice-control button. (Be careful with that though, it rarely works well. Sometimes it'll work ok for letting me call someone though: "call John" for instance.)

    Then you give the user back a knob in the form of an encoder style knob. Change the radio volume? press the radio button and turn the knob. Change temperature? Press climate control and turn the knob.

    Sorry, no. Sorry if I sound like a Mazda fanboy, but they got it exactly right: volume needs its own knob (plus mute, by pushing it), and temperature needs its own knob too. There's no excuse for sticking all these things on a single knob; it just increases the amount of time you need to get to them, and the mental workload.

    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday October 06 2017, @06:34PM (1 child)

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday October 06 2017, @06:34PM (#578213) Journal

      Oh I get it. I'm just trying to figure out a compromise. If it were up to me I'd stick with plain old knobs buttons and switches to the HVAC, volume, etc. My temporary vehicle is an older chevy van from 2002 with no electronic anything save for the engine ECU. Manual windows and locks too. Not much to break, thats for sure.

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday October 06 2017, @09:20PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday October 06 2017, @09:20PM (#578342)

        No compromise is necessary other than what I mentioned about current Mazdas. Their cheapest model has this setup, as does the even cheaper Scion iA which is really a rebadged Mazda 2. If a sub-$20k (or even close to $15k) economy car can do it right with sufficient knobs, there's no excuse for anyone else.

  • (Score: 2) by VanessaE on Friday October 06 2017, @12:10PM

    by VanessaE (3396) <vanessa.e.dannenberg@gmail.com> on Friday October 06 2017, @12:10PM (#577959) Journal

    Oblig.

    Ted, the lever!

    The lever just came off. We're still at worp.

    Try another lever.

    There are no more levers, just switches.

    - No buttons?
    - Just switches, lights and knobs.

    Cut the bleeding-heart crap. We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. Down here, there are hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights. Blinking and beeping and flashing. They're flashing and they're beeping. I can't stand it any more! They're blinking and beeping...