With each new vehicle presentation, manufacturers keep telling us how much they want to simplify our lives with the help of technology. While some are welcome, others have the opposite effect and complicate our lives.
We are referring here to the screens and touch keys that furnish the new models that we are offered. It’s been said for years that nothing can replace the efficiency of a good old button or switch to perform an operation such as activating the heated seats, for example. Doing so by accessing the menus on a touchscreen isn’t helpful.
What we know, a Swedish study has just proven, black on white. This demonstrates how touchscreens and endless pages of menus cause, in a sense, plenty of distracted driving moments.
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The interior of the 2005 Volvo V70
Swedish automotive magazine Vi Bilägare has proven that buttons are safer than touchscreens. We have simply calculated the time it takes to carry out simple and routine operations. The magazine simply asked its readers to perform four common tasks while driving.
Before calculating the times, the drivers tested had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with how to perform these tasks in the 12 different models chosen as guinea pigs. The lot included among others the Tesla Model 3 and the BMW iX which are both equipped with a touch screen. A Seat León and a Dacia Sandero were also involved. The magazine also used a 17-year-old Volvo V70 with physical buttons for several days.
Once everyone was well aware of the tasks to be performed, the magazine timed the drivers as they completed the four tasks while driving their respective vehicles at 110 km/h. Unsurprisingly, it was aboard the old Volvo that the operations were carried out the fastest, in just 10 seconds.
Completing all four tasks in the new BMW iX took three times as long, at 30.4 seconds.
The multimedia screen of the BMW iX
Vi Bilägare points out that the lack of buttons is not the only problem. The way multimedia systems are designed also plays an important role. The BMW iX system, for example, offers one of the most complex interfaces ever devised, the magazine says.
What is of course most worrying is that for every extra second that is spent carrying out an operation on the road, our vehicle travels tens or even hundreds of meters without our concentration being on the road.
The message is clear ; simplify approaches. Functions that are used frequently every day should be easy to use.
It is ironic today to see increasingly safe models arriving, but models whose design forces us to perform operations that are not safe while driving.
On the road, concentration is required at all times. Take the time to properly adjust your settings before hitting the road in order to keep your eyes and your concentration where it should be at all times: straight ahead.
See also: Car multimedia systems are still dangerous, according to AAA
The interior of the 2022 Volkswagen Golf R, almost devoid of physical buttons
