Re:Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ b...
by WalterBright on Monday December 21, 2020 @11:53PM
(#25502995)
These problems have long been solved. Then, 20 years ago, it was all forgotten.
Behold my 1989 Bronco II:
----------[++]-----------------------------------
MAX A/C PANEL PNL/FLR FLOOR FLR/DEF DEFROST
-----------------[++]----------------------------
COOL WARM
OFF * * * HI
PUSH FOR A/C
Turning on the headlights lights the display.
No manual is needed to fully operate it. I never even had the manual for that car. The knob and sliders are trivial, tactile, and visual. There are no modes.
It's near perfection in user interface design.
While there are things on my car I use instinctively without looking—wipers/ lights come to mind—there are plenty of other pieces which are frustratingly difficult to find in the dark. Turning on the window defroster when the window starts to fog up at night comes to mind. Likewise many of the climate control nobs. While they do have nice physical manifestations, I don't know off the top of my head what position the nob happens to be in or which direction I need to shift it to get it into defrost versus heat versus vent.
Personally, I think there is a happy medium somewhere between Tesla's touch everything and the current state where you play button guessing games.