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
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday April 13 2018, @11:55AM
I can't picture how kids could step on window switches on the front doors only (as in my cars). In four-window setups I'd expect the centre console switches to be stepped on more often than the door switches (but only when the kids aren't belted up).
All the cars I've known (in the UK) have rear door windows that only open ~2/3 of the way, partly to protect kids from doing silly things.