Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, test finds

Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by StevenWaterman on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @07:52AM (#32495031)

There is one benefit - you can update the UI of a car with a touchscreen but not one with buttons. Tesla's first touchscreen [1] now looks slightly dated, but they're able to just update the entire fleet.

No doubt it'll get to the point where you can't update it any more - either due to hardware incompatibility, lack of processing power, or some new technology being added. But it has meant that a 2013 Model S looks more modern today than it would have otherwise.

Equally, tech tends to look dated much faster than physical buttons do. It's too early to really say which has more long-lasting appeal.

[1] https://youtu.be/TZ0HsN-tblo?t=124

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by grishka on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @07:57AM (#32495079)

Updatability is not a good thing. I want my UIs to never change without a good reason, and there can't be a good reason to change car controls.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by jrockway on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:15AM (#32495244)

The change is important during product development, though. I think touch screens are a reaction to PMs at car companies wanting to make last-minute changes, and being told "no, we already spent 10 million dollars on the injection molds". Put it in software, then your lazy engineers just have to stay late for a month. And if they don't finish in time, hey, just fake it in Photoshop for the ads and update the UI later!

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by grishka on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:56AM (#32495674)

I feel like the contribution of project managers to the humanity is net negative. UIs, whether on screens or as hardware controls, need to be built to suit the human body and to not require thinking to operate once one develops muscle memory. Every other concern — including aesthetics — is secondary. Touchscreens in cars are very contrary to that because they require visual feedback.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by twic on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:16AM (#32495249)

> there can't be a good reason to change car controls

"UI revision 1.23: move the Passenger Seat Blender switch further away from the air conditioning controls"

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by HidyBush on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @07:58AM (#32495084)

>you can update the UI of a car with a touchscreen but not one with buttons

A car is a dependable tool. Changing the UI during a car's lifetime is dangerous and unprofessional. I'd say the same is true for smartphones and computers but I guess the majority of people think of them as simple "cool entertainment devices"

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by jen20 on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:52AM (#32495622)

Speak for yourself. My car gained the ability to display directions from CarPlay in the heads-up display overnight, while parked in my garage, increasing the value to me massively.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by rad_gruchalski on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @02:09PM (#32499741)

A feature has been added. Has anything changed, though...

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by jen20 on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @06:15PM (#32502395)

Sure, lots of things. No regressions I’ve noticed…

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by throwaway98797 on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:14AM (#32495234)

let’s never improve, let’s bifurcate development to support old systems

this is a unproductive conservative attitude

no I won’t get off your lawn

I’ve been burned by changing UIs but it’s the price we pay for progress

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by HidyBush on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:36AM (#32495426)

>unproductive

tell me more about how updating your car's UI overnight can make you more productive

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by throwaway98797 on Friday August 19, 2022 @06:12AM (#32519248)

my point was broader, any one update won’t make you productive it will be likely be regressive

all updates taking together will allow for progress

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by donatj on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:29AM (#32495360)

Progress for progress sake is worse than worthless, and in the case here it’s distracting and dangerous. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by WickyNilliams on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:40AM (#32495471)

Not all movement is progress

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by Silhouette on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:05AM (#32495148)

There is one benefit - you can update the UI of a car with a touchscreen but not one with buttons.

This is a bug, not a feature.

If I'm driving then I'm driving. I want any non-driving controls to be as simple, consistent and reliable as possible. I don't want any non-essential controls at all. I don't want anything I might want to use while driving that requires me to take my eyes off the road at all. I couldn't care less what some flashy touchscreen UI looks like because I should never have to look at it.

The physical controls on the dash of every vehicle I drive regularly still work as well and feel as comfortable to use as they ever did. In some cases those vehicles are over a decade old. I'll take that over the modern touchscreen junk any day.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by dncornholio on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @07:55AM (#32495058)

I've never been in my car and thought the buttons could use an update.. It's hardly something that you should trade safety for.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by mizzack on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:11AM (#32495211)

Just waiting for the day some enterprising MBA decides it's a good idea to add ads.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by Cthulhu_ on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:54AM (#32495656)

I've seen ads show up on a (analog) radio's display a long time ago already, it'll be coming soon enough.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by datavirtue on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:41AM (#32495487)

Already in the works.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by kylecordes on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:09AM (#32495185)

It's interesting to see a parade of people object to the updatability.

Sure, on a minute-to-minute timescale, anyone must obviously agree.

But over the long term of owning a car, it is an immensely valuable feature. My 2018 car still feels quite new and fresh - much less reason to replace it than if it were falling behind.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by bsagdiyev on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:19AM (#32495272)

It absolutely is not. I do not want my 2 ton moving vehicle updated on a whim. My 2019 has a screen I can never really turn off that is bright at night, my 2008 has a slow laggy UI that an update will never fix. The 2000 Miata sitting in my garage has the best interface of them all. Push buttons and dials for climate control, two window switches in the middle tombstone area and that's really it outside the typical steering wheel controls for signals, lights and windshield wipers. It's amazingly simple and should continue working even when my newer cars are dead and gone.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by bsagdiyev on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:34AM (#32495416)

Since I cannot directly reply to you (ajconway) -- this is thoroughly untrue. Tesla does it at the very least and I'm aware that is becoming a "feature" offered in other vehicles now too.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by macintux on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:39AM (#32495458)

If you click/tap on the time stamp next to a message you reach a dedicated page where you can reply (same thing I had to do to reply to yours at this conversation depth).

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by bsagdiyev on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:45AM (#32495534)

Well what do you know, TIL. Thank you!

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by datavirtue on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:40AM (#32495479)

I always marveled at the competence and refinement of automotive interfaces...they killed that shit.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by ajconway on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:33AM (#32495400)

> I do not want my 2 ton moving vehicle updated on a whim.

The car won't update itself, so:

1. Ignore any updates as they become available.

2. Problem solved.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by MereInterest on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:42AM (#32495502)

For devices that connect to the internet, such as for updating maps and real-time traffic data, does the lack of security updates mean that your 2-ton moving vehicle is now somebody else's 2-ton moving vehicle?

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by pjmorris on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @09:35AM (#32496153)

Which is actually an argument for non-updatability.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by MereInterest on Thursday August 18, 2022 @07:55AM (#32508269)

Completely agreed. Mainly, I wanted to make a distinction between "cannot be updated" and "can be updated but isn't". The former is a design choice that removes entire classes of vulnerabilities. The latter is a usage choice that keeps vulnerabilities open.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by darkwater on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:53AM (#32495634)

I'm with you on this, I do understand people not wanting the extra cognitive load to learn new changes in the UX but as a tinkerer I really love that my car can get OTA updates that add/changes features. Actually many (most of?) Tesla owners have a Tesla also for this reason. Source: lurking in Tesla owners forums/groups.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by gjm11 on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:13AM (#32495230)

You'd buy a new car because the UI feels a bit dated?

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by nordsieck on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:43AM (#32495510)

> You'd buy a new car because the UI feels a bit dated?

There's a substantial group of people who lease cars, and just get a new car after the lease is up. For that group of people, that's probably a substantial reason along with the exterior styling.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by lupire on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @09:22AM (#32495995)

The main reason for leasing cars is (a) wanting to prove how rich they are, and (b) being irrationally afraid of maintenance.

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Re:Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, tes... by kylecordes on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @08:33AM (#32495398)

Not with any urgency of course; it's one factor among many. We have a 2015 car that feels like 2005, and a 2018 car that feels like 2022. The terrible map/etc. experience will certainly be a motivator when replacing - and makes old car worth much less on the used market than one that updates.

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