[fine69]

Best example of why and how too much touchscreen controls can ruin a car is VW GTI.

Its got everything right & huge improvement over its predecessor except when you enter the car and realise everything is touch based.

The practicality of using the car is thrown out the window and the controls are also placed in such places that one can unintentionally keep changing settings.

I think its just plain dumb to have certain controls touchscreen based when one knows that they'd be used by the driver during driving mostly and not while standstill.

[varun.petro]

This obsession with making everything touch operated should stop. Its a big safety hazard.

Kushaq has touch operated AC controls and everytime I have to take eyes off road completely to operate.

Specially with all new EVs adverts having large continous screens with no visible buttons, roads will start getting unsafe.

[vijaysrk]

The AC controls and volume rocker need to physical buttons, and that's a non-negotiable item for me.

these will affect my choice of car.

[Lobogris]

Touchscreens are perfectly fine. Having a large high quality screen is the key. Very few people actually reach for the volume or temperature adjustment dials blindly. In reality, you need to take eyes off the road and glance at the dial to see which one we should be using. It is no different than clicking temperature or volume on a touchscreen as long as these options are prominently visible without the need for sub menus. In any case, these are not vital controls. A person can mange with a sub optimal temperature or volume setting for a few minutes. It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that he/ she only operates the controls when it is safe to do so. If we are going to be focused only on safety then even listening to music takes your attention away from driving. I can conduct a test that will prove that drivers are less distracted when focusing solely on driving vs listening to music or radio. So ideally one should adjust the climate controls before starting to drive or when stationary at a traffic light and focus only on driving. For simple adjustments like skipping a track or changing the temperature, a large, high quality touchscreen is just as safe as a knob. To mitigate the safety concerns, on needs to learn the settings and become familiar before starting the trip. Obviously an experienced driver knows that it is ok to glance away for a millisecond on an empty highway but not when driving on a busy street.

[Guna]

Someone needs a topic to do research. Everyone knows that physical buttons are easier to use than the touchscreen because of the muscle memory, tactile feel, feedback etc. Only reason to use the touchscreen is flexibility, scalability, going for minimalistic and of course cost saving.
Best approach would be to retain all frequently used or critical functions (which are accessed while on the move) as buttons and bury less used functions under the touchscreen.

[Nucliomaniac]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

About time, someone acknowledged and actually published such results

This is why all Petrolheads love BMW!

[haribalram]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Very few people actually reach for the volume or temperature adjustment dials blindly. In reality, you need to take eyes off the road and glance at the dial to see which one we should be using.

Over time, many actions are engraved in your muscle memory. Purely stating from personal experience, one doesn't need to take their eyes off the road for - AC switch, blower control (both front & 2nd row, if located behind the driver), Lights, Wiper, Steering controls (calls audio), etc.

A balance between physical and touchscreen controls would be the way to go about it.

[Simha.k]

I'll simply blame the idiots at Tesla for setting the trend in the industry. Other OEMs without thinking twice or actually bothering to conduct a trade off study have blindly copied and implemented everything in the damn touch screen.

Let me share my personal experience below.

My rental Octavia A8 Kombi which has everything integrated in the touch screen has a few physical buttons which are totally useless. I'll tell you why. Having parked my car for a long time under the sun on a hot sunny day for 5+ hours, I returned to the car and switched on the ignition. When I try to access the AC section on the screen, it simply wouldn't respond. The navigation page on the screen wouldn't respond either. I don't know what happened later, the AC switched on automatically by itself without manual intervention and started to cool the cabin. I assume that the previously set temp of 20c was picked. Before leaving the car, the AC was on. Maybe that's why the AC system set the temperature by itself. I tried restarting the infotainment unit many times. Switched off the ignition and turned it on and off many times. No use. The system failed to respond. We were simply stuck with the same temperature for the rest of the journey. We could neither increase or decrease the temperature. Nor could we switch it off completely. The clima button below the screen would take me to the page, but simply wouldn't show anything on the screen

I don't know why these stupid designers don't take these things in to account when they design something? For me functionality plays a major role over those useless touchscreens. Imagine, if I had rotary knobs for AC control, I could do what I want with it. Not with this useless touchscreen. Lastly, I forgot to mention the number of times I had to take my eyes off the road to set something on it. Sigh!

[CEF_Beasts]

A big fan of a dual setup of physical buttons and a nice responsive touchscreen, not to forget the user-friendly iDrive swivel wheel.

[Chethan B G]

Alexa / Siri, please increase the temperature.
Alexa / Siri, please increase the fan speed.
Alexa / Siri, please play some music.
Alexa / Siri, please take me to “this place”.

I think the future is going to be this.

Reducing physical knobs in a car, reduces cost for the car makers. A 10 inch touchscreen audio costs less than a 7 inch audio unit with those marvellous physical knobs. It also attracts common buyers. Learned automobile enthusiasts are less than 5% of what makes the car buyers. Car makers will continue to use touchscreen in the name of cost cutting in my opinion.

A manual AC controller always comes with the knobs for control. Whereas, a good Auto AC unit with knob control or otherwise, does not require a driver to fiddle around with it during any single trip in my opinion. One can set the temperature in the beginning of the trip based on the climate, and forget about it. I do the same. 😊

I personally think that all this is just a matter of getting used to.

[vjbox]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

About time, someone acknowledged and actually published such results

Call me old-school or whatever, but I cannot drive a car which doesn't have the tactile feel of those dials, buttons et al.

A few months ago, when I was on the lookout to upgrade our Vento, came across the stylish Volvo S60 sedan. Everything about the car felt rock solid and the design was breathtaking. However, a short test drive with this touchscreen cockpit:-

Attachment 2347728

...and I walked away from the car. I couldn't just get to looking at the screen and figuring out the AC/Lights features while driving. Too much of a distraction for me.

Eventually, I went on to buy a car which was full of such tactile niceties:-

Attachment 2347729

Yep, not a big fan of the all touch screen only units these days and sadly Volvos have been treading in that direction too. I mean even the AC controls are touch screen based and its a pain to change it when you are on the roads. I am sort of a an old schooler when it comes to this area which is why I still love the dash on my V40 CC. Its buttons galore to be honest but all the essentials are out there and you can operate them without taking your eyes off the road even for the one second. Its wired into your muscle memory and I can always reach out for the said button without even glancing at it. This is very well true for a Volvo with so many safety aids that are linked to some of those buttons. Very easy to flick them on the fly without having to go into nested menus in a touch screen.

[vivek2652]

A combination of both is a better way to go. One can use buttons without looking at them(and you know which one you are pressing due to its size/position [muscle memory]) but you need to take your eyes off the road even for some second to use the screen. Hence for some repetitive functions, buttons may be given. Even smartphones have volume and lock/unlock buttons.

[aslampr07]

According to Hyundai's lead designer the touch screen controls are bad and unsafe and they are looking forward to keep the physical buttons.

But somebody please enlighten me, does the new Verna have touchscreen/Capacitive button on its dashboard?

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/news/hyunda...-are-dangerous

[saket77]

Originally Posted by aslampr07

According to Hyundai's lead designer the touch screen controls are bad and unsafe and they are looking forward to keep the physical buttons.

But somebody please enlighten me, does the new Verna have touchscreen/Capacitive button on its dashboard?

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/news/hyunda...-are-dangerous

This comes as fresh air. I am not a fan of Hyundai, but if they think of carrying the physical buttons in their future cars, it is great. I concur with their line of thought that touch screen buttons are not as safe as physical buttons and knobs as you have to take your eyes off the road to change even the smallest of the settings.

However, it is totally another matter which remains to be seen if they can really swim against the tide here.

Regards.