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Automobile Dashboard Technology is Simply Awful

posted by chromas on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the tactile-response-is-for-knobs dept.

MrPlow writes:

When I went car shopping recently, I was amazed by the autonomous technologies in most new models: automatic lane-keeping, braking to avoid collisions and parallel parking, for example.

But I was appalled by the state of dashboard technology. Technology sells, so car companies are all about touch screens and apps these days. Unfortunately, they're truly terrible at designing user interfaces (UIs)—the ways that you, the human, are supposed to interact with it, the car. A good user interface (a) is easy to navigate, (b) puts frequently used controls front and center, (c) gives clear feedback as you make a change and (d) is apparently beyond the capabilities of today's car companies. I asked my Twitter followers to help me nominate the World's Worst Car UI Designs—and I was flooded with responses.

Source:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/automobile-dashboard-technology-is-simply-awful/

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @07:09AM (8 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @07:09AM (#665787) Journal

    New car models are not primarily cars, they are entertainment units wrapped in a car packaging.
    All the DRM thingies apply to them and of course (in manufacturers mind) they need to feel like a fucking big mobile devices on wheels.

    Why so, you ask? How else the car industry can get to step into planned obsolescence era and force you buy a new car every 2 years?

    (trollish grin)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday April 12 2018, @07:40AM (1 child)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday April 12 2018, @07:40AM (#665791) Journal

    Well, AM radio isn't dead, yet, but it won't be long..
    "You radio no longer works in your city; as your radio is also the control unit for the whole car, please upgrade your car to continue listening to your favourite station or online service"

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @08:20AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @08:20AM (#665799) Journal

      Yeah, I can wait the news about how people in the regional areas cannot get the messages from the local fire authority because all they have in the car is a digital streaming radio version of a receiver.

      Not so funny moments due to reliance on the modern tech [abc.net.au]

      Macarthur Country Fire Authority (CFA) deputy group officer Hugh McFarlane said the problem came to a head in Victoria on Saturday night when fire raced through farmland near Gazette, Macarthur, Penshurst and Hawkesdale, destroying three homes.

      He said the bad phone service could have cost lives.

      "It [takes] three or four phone calls on average to get through to a number," Mr McFarlane said.
      ...
      Mr McFarlane said on Saturday night he and a colleague made about 90 phone calls, but it took almost 300 attempts for those 90 calls to get through.

      "We've had bad phone service here for the last six to eight months," he said.

      "You make a phone call and it tells you the number's been disconnected [or calls] will ring out and won't go to message bank.

      "Sometimes you can make up to seven or eight calls before you get through to a number."

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by nobu_the_bard on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:15PM (5 children)

    by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:15PM (#665926)

    My new car has HDMI connectors. I asked various people at the dealership, what would I even use those for, and they all shrugged and claimed some people get excited over that.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:29PM (1 child)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:29PM (#665934) Journal

      My new car has HDMI connectors. I asked various people at the dealership, what would I even use those for, and they all shrugged and claimed some people get excited over that.

      Yeah, well... some people get excited by golden-showers... beat me if I see this as a reason to make cars that piss on the occupiers

      (grin)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by The Archon V2.0 on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:59PM

        by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Thursday April 12 2018, @02:59PM (#665954)

        > beat me if I see this as a reason to make cars that piss on the occupiers

        No no, that's the dealership's job.

    • (Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday April 12 2018, @03:56PM (2 children)

      by zocalo (302) on Thursday April 12 2018, @03:56PM (#665982)
      Apparently its supposed to be so that you can stream video from a mobile device to any in-car screens, presumably because someone thought this would be more convenient that having to copy the media in question over to a USB stick, or just mounting the device's internal storage via USB and streaming from that. Probably more useful if you have passengers in the rear seats to keep them entertained if you have some of those headrest mounted screens some cars now come with, or I guess on any dash screen if you're just taking a short break from driving. I suspect the involvement of a PHB in the design process somewhere followed by a bunch of me-tooism from other marques, because I can't imagine enough people actually asked for this for some manger to make a successful business case for it.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 12 2018, @04:47PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 12 2018, @04:47PM (#666014)

        Two words: Gaming consoles
        You also get AC outlets. Not sure why it's considered child-quieting to have them play FarCry5 until they puke on the back seat, but hey...

      • (Score: 2) by danmars on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:09PM

        by danmars (3662) on Thursday April 12 2018, @05:09PM (#666029)

        Maybe so you can plug in a Nintendo Switch and all non-driver occupants can compete?