Is the phasing out of physical buttons in modern cars in favor of touch screens a good approach? A team of testers recently looked into this and reported that it raises many security concerns. The report alleges that touchscreens in new cars perform less well than physical buttons. Specifically, it says touchscreens don’t offer the same levels of security as physical buttons and are likely to force drivers to take their eyes off the road for a long time.
It’s hard to find a new car these days whose dashboard isn’t dominated by a large infotainment touchscreen, increasingly at the expense of physical buttons and dials. The American manufacturer of electric vehicles (EV) Tesla in is may still be the most extreme follower, but the trend is mirrored throughout the industry. Indeed, Tesla EVs are famous for having very few physical buttons, if any. Instead, the majority of its EV functions, including windscreen wiper controls, are on the touchscreen.
But this approach raises security concerns. To find out more, Swedish car magazine Vi Bilgare extensively tested the HMI (human-machine interface) system of eleven modern cars this summer and came to the conclusion that this design choice had a profound effect on driving safety, because drivers now have to take much longer to complete a simple action. The report states that the lowest performing car needs 1,400 meters to perform the same tasks for which the highest performing car only needs 300 metres.
Vi Bilgare measured the time it takes a driver to perform various simple tasks from a touch screen, such as changing radio stations or adjusting the air conditioning. At the same time, the car was driven at 110 km/h. In parallel, the team of testers also invited an “old school” car without a touchscreen, a 17-year-old Volvo V70, for comparison. An important aspect of this test is that drivers have had time to get to know the cars and their infotainment systems before the test begins. The team made several observations, starting with the complexity of the screens.
Tesla wasn’t the first to introduce a touchscreen, but the company has always offered touchscreens that are larger than most manufacturers, packing in more of the car’s functionality. The BMW iX electric SUV also offers a touchscreen, though not as large as Tesla’s, and also more physical buttons. But that would not guarantee an easy-to-use system. According to the team, the BMW’s infotainment system has a lot of features, but it also has one of the most complex and convoluted user interfaces ever. Another sin is committed by Volkswagen and Seat.
According to the report, for the sake of economy, the climate control touch controls below the display in Volkswagen’s new ID.3 and Seat’s Leon are not backlit, making them completely invisible at night. Furthermore, the test revealed that the car manufacturers claim that several functions can now be activated by voice is not entirely true. Voice command systems would not always be easy to use and would not work as advertised. The team therefore did not take its systems into account during the experiment. Here are the main observations of the team:
- by far the easiest car to understand and use is the 2005 Volvo V70. The four tasks are completed in ten seconds flat, during which the car is driven for 306 meters at 110 km/h;
- At the other end of the scale, the Chinese MG Marvel R electric car fares much worse. The driver needs 44.6 seconds to complete all the tasks, during which the car traveled 1,372 meters, more than four times the distance of the old Volvo;
- the BMW iX and Seat Leon are more capable, but both are still too complicated. The driver needs almost a kilometer to complete the tasks. The team reminds that a lot can happen in traffic during this time;
- the Dacia Sandero and the Volvo C40 perform well despite both being equipped with touch screens. However, they are not feature overloaded. Volvo seems to show that a touchscreen doesn’t need to be complicated.
Although many car infotainment screens retain physical controls, a growing number do not. There are concerns that large screens can be a source of distraction, and that without the tactile response of a physical button to assure users that they have selected the correct option, drivers will be more likely to look away from the road for utilize. So, still as part of the test, the team also measured the angle at which the driver must look down to operate the touchscreen controls.
By photographing the same driver in all the cars tested, the team found that the driver must lower their line of sight by at least 56 degrees to see the lower end of the ultra-wide touchscreen. In comparison, the driver lowers his line of vision by only 20 degrees in the Mercedes GLB which has a small screen embedded in the dashboard. Despite these various observations, several players in the automotive industry believe that the increase in the size of touch screens is an asset for safety. According to them, the problems highlighted can be improved.
According to a comment on the topic, one of the reasons touch screens are being used more and more is that they help break away from long project deadlines. Physical buttons must be designed, tested, redesigned and validated very early in the design process of a new model, so there is time to figure out how to make/procure all the parts, how they fit into the rest of the car’s systems, and how they will be wired and assembled. Just imagine what the impact would be if, late in the process, a new feature were to be added.
It should practically be forgotten and added during the next iteration of the model. With a touch screen, all these addictions disappear. The hardware team simply says “there will be an iPad-sized capacitive touchscreen here for the infotainment, and a custom-sized one here for the instrument cluster.” Software specialists can design the user interface independently, modifying things until the very last moment, or even following the last moment if the car can be updated,” the comment says.
Meanwhile, the market for electric vehicles continues to evolve and some manufacturers might very soon unveil new concepts, including autonomous vehicles without steering wheels, mirrors or pedals. General Motors’ Cruise subsidiary specializing in self-driving vehicles a dj demand American regulators the authorization to deploy the Cruise Origin, an autonomous vehicle without steering wheel, mirrors or pedals. If approved, it might be on the assembly line within a year. On his side, Tesla a dj intgr the shift lever on the touch screen of the dashboard of certain versions of Model S and Model X.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has declared that this Tesla choice meets compliance standards and does not violate the rules. In a set of rules released earlier this year, the United States have deleted the requirement for manual controls for vehicles qualifying as fully automated, which paves the way for autonomous vehicles without steering wheels or pedals like the Cruise Origin. However, the new rules have caused a stir in the community and are raising new safety concerns.
Source: Magazine automobile sudois Vi Bilgare
And you?
What is your opinion on the subject?
What do you think of the observations reported above?
Do you think the touch screen is more useful and more ergonomic than physical buttons?
What do you think of fully autonomous vehicles without steering wheels, mirrors and pedals?
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