Electric car thread

[old man emu]

23 minutes ago, onetrack said:

But the lack of switches buttons and controls in the dashboard area, is one complaint area, that is being raised regularly by new car owners.

Seems that the users of these vehicles are more aware of the safety aspects of operating a vehicle than the people who design the operating systems. Using touch screens to scroll through menus is OK when you are travelling at 0 KpH, but as soon as you start moving ...

 

I even find looking down at my speedo when setting cruise control can let me allow the car to move within its lane if I'm not on a straight.

[spacesailor]

That's why those ' revenuer's ' get those $ millions in fines. 

90% watching the speedo with a few percent for everything else . 

spacesailor

Edited Sunday at 03:54 AM by spacesailor

[red750]

Hyundai may have pre-empted BMW.

 

Back to Basics: Hyundai Drops Touchscreens

 

The car brand Hyundai acknowledges it may have gone too far with touchscreens, as many customers have expressed frustration over the shift from traditional buttons to digital controls.

 

Touchscreens have simplified car interiors, but this development has also created issues, especially for drivers. Many find screens difficult to operate while driving, particularly when adjusting basic controls like air conditioning or radio volume.

 

Read more here

[spacesailor]

Do you have to put on your ' reading glasses ' .

When needed .

spacesailor

[kgwilson]

My car has a tactile button to turn the HVAC on or off & one for instant demist, but for adjustments it is a large 10 inch screen with huge well labelled screen buttons to tap for things like air direction (face, feet, screen) and a large ribbon display for fan speed about 200mm long so tapping it anywhere will adjust the fan speed or just hit the auto big button etc. Motoring journalists need to move into the 21st century. Far better than physical buttons IMHO.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I think it will depend on the quality of the touchscrreen itself. Some touchscreens seem to be very responsive to touch, while others seem to randomly decide when they will respond to touch or not.  A quick search did not yield minimum design rules for touchscreens used for driving functions. You think they would have worked it out byy now. Of course, if there are such rules, I would happily stand corrected.

 

I did find this, though:

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/safety-authority-will-punish-carmakers-for-relying-on-touchscreens

 

Again, touch screen, like many other tech advances are not limited to EVs. Tesla is sort of the Apple of the car industry - it has been revolutionaty in the human interface between driving, regardless of EV bit. I have test driven new ICE cars that are touch screen for many things. Even EVs still have pedals for stop and go.

[pmccarthy]

I want back the five push buttons on my AM radio. Much less distracting than a touch screen. And there are never more than five stations worth listening to.

[red750]

I can't understand how they are legal. You can get fined for having you phone on your knee - overhead cameras to detect them. How then can it be legal to have touch screens, some with more icons that a phone home page?

[old man emu]

I remember when portable DVD players came in. As far as I can remember, they could not be fitted in a way that the driver could see the screen.

 

I can also remember when Ford fitted a digital numeric display speedometer to Falcons. The problem was that, as normally happens when driving, the vehicle's speed can vary by one or two KpH. The digital numerical display kept changing and that movement attracted the attention of the brain which evolved to quickly notice any small movements. Therefore, the constant, and irregular change in the display was a constant distraction.

[kgwilson]

Digital displays have got a lot better since the days of Falcons. Now with so many electronic things in a car to control so many things, the hard part is remembering where everything is and what it actually does. It took me weeks to work out all of the different functions till I finally gave up & left it all as standard.

 

One of the best features though is Adaptive Cruise control. Set it to the speed limit & it adjusts for  traffic flow and corners etc. Traffic Jam assist is a low speed type of Cruise control which will automatically stop & start in heavy traffic situations & also keep the car within the lane. Basically the car will drive itself in these situations. You could read the paper while the car negotiates the traffic. Mind you the posh English woman who lives in my car tells me to put my hands back on the wheel if I ever let it go.

[Marty_d]

10 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Mind you the posh English woman who lives in my car tells me to put my hands back on the wheel if I ever let it go.

Is her name Hyacinth?

[old man emu]

13 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Mind you the posh English woman who lives in my car tells me to put my hands back on the wheel if I ever let it go.

It that because she fears they might wander into forbidden places?