I was a front-seat passenger the other day in a Tesla X. I wanted to adjust the radio volume. This turns out to be an obscure couple of touch areas at the bottom right of the central touch screen (photo). As with the Honda Clarity whose interface proved intolerable, there is no volume knob, though there are buttons on the steering wheel for the driver.
I know that Tesla true believers may love everything about the car, but I wonder if this design is an example of crazy bad user interface. The volume control, which one might use 10 or 15 times during a trip (e.g., to tone down commercials or hear a question from a child in the back), is actually smaller than the set-and-forget temperature control. It gets roughly equal prominence to the seat heater/cooler control, which one might adjust 1-2 times per trip.
I would question the safety and utility of this whole approach. It is a lot easier to feel a button and requires less diversion of attention from the road than it is to find a portion of a touch screen by sight. Honda and Toyota are able to make a profit selling cars full of physical buttons for about 1/6th the cost of a Tesla. So we can’t say that it is impractical to engineer a $100,000+ vehicle with dedicated buttons for frequently used controls.
Readers: What do you think? A monster touch screen that does everything is obviously great if the designers change their minds years after the car ships, but is it a bad idea compared to what most car companies are doing? (dedicated buttons for commonly used controls; a touch screen to get down into the weeds)
Can’t say that I’m a true believer, but there is, according to the video below, a button on the left side of the steering wheel that will allow the driver to make volume adjustments. So it sounds as though the volume issue is more pain for passengers than the driver?
I have to say that after watching this though, that the multifunction selector on the right of the steering wheel could be very distracting. Requires a lot of “heads down” time to navigate through everything.
In cars, there should be physical controls for frequently used items, and they should be operable via touch, no glance required. This is a total no brainer. I’ve yet to hear any plausible argument otherwise, other than cost savings.
I am a Tesla fan, overall, but this was a poor decision.
Not sure it is relevant whether or not the passenger is “head down”. As Phil noted the driver has a physical switch on the steering wheel for volume control. Sure it may be an additional moment for a front seat passenger to change volume, but one reason it is small and on the passenger side of the console is that there is not risk for the passenger to look away from the road (unless it is to miss an extremely photographic moment). The larger console controls like temp and seat heaters/coolers, while they may be less frequently used are larger so that the driver, when alone, can adjust them quickly and easily with reduced “head down” time.
I’ve grown to despise the touch screen on my Honda Civic (which is otherwise a nice car). Not only are basic controls (fan speed, A/C) buried on the screen, but it’s slow, requiring several seconds to switch from one screen to another.
Response delays much over 100ms are dangerous when distracting a driver at freeway speeds. The several seconds it takes to switch from, say audio controls to climate is criminally negligent on Honda’s part.
You’re lucky to have a screen. The car of the future is going to run on your phone. Maybe they could hire people over 15 who can do something besides pass coding challenges, to design the interface, but dynamic range compression is what you want more than volume control.
I’ve got a rental car right now and the radio presets are on a touch screen. These presets are much slower, harder and more distracting to use than physical presets.
Also it has keyless entry and ingnition but has a fob and a push button ignition. With keys I automatically have them in my hand as I exit the car so I know I’m not locking myself out of the car. Now I am always awkwardly checking my pocket as I exit. A real pain. And then it locks automatically too soon to open another door to say get out bags of groceries. Also the other night I managed to leave the car running and unlocked with several thousand dollars worth of equipment inside in a public parking lot while I went inside someplace for 45 minutes because I did not have the keys in my hand as I exited. I dont think these things are improvements!
I’d love to drive something new that would still work after an EMP. Doesn’t exist. Ironic isn’t it, that in a consumer society, the actual wants of consumers are disregarded.
From a drivers perspective, why not put common operation on a heads-up-display that you can control from buttons on the steering wheel? This way, even the driver does not have to look at the dashboard or the silly screen to the right?
@ George A. So that the driver pays attention to the traffic, driving being his most common operation. Heads-up-display for feed-back of his driving in more car models would be great though.
G C is exactly right – “In cars, there should be physical controls for frequently used items, and they should be operable via touch, no glance required.”
Ford learned this the hard way a few years back when they introduced the “MyFord Touch” system – this was pre-Tesla, and since the press had no other particular reason to fawn over the Ford brand, they eviscerated the new cars outfitted with this touch screen. Dealers received a torrent of complaints and service calls, and the Ford brand plummeted in JD Power ratings over the next couple of years. More details in my book – http://amzn.to/1Pf9xvi
Wally w, the point is that you never take keys our of your pocket.
I have owned 3 cars with after-market car radios, and it was very complicated to adjust the volume on all of them. Car radios that came as standard equipment were much easier to use.
Sometimes the volume is controlled by obscure buttons. Sometimes there is a big knob that can be used for volume control, but only if the software is in the right mode. Half the time I try to adjust the volume, I find that I am adjusting the equalizer, and I don’t know how to get out of equalizer adjustment mode.
This always has been baffling to me, as I would expect a car stereo company to be able to design a car radio better than General Motors. But I have yet to see an after-market car radio that is easy to use.
I have a 2008 Toyota Highlander and am very happy with it. The volume and channel knobs are the size of Dixie cups and located front and center on the dashboard. I can vouch from experience that Toyota’s engineers spend a lot of time thinking about ergonomics.
What I don’t get is why nobody uses MFD-style physical buttons next to touch displays in cars
Also the other night I managed to leave the car running and unlocked ….while I went inside someplace.
People have done this in their garages and died of carbon monoxide poisoning upstairs in their homes as a result. It seems to happen mostly to senior citizens.
Also the touch screens don’t work unless you remove your gloves (they have special touch gloves but they don’t work very well) which is no fun 1st thing in the morning in the winter when it is really cold outside.
I’m pretty sure this is the work of some designer hired to make the interior look cool and modern. Wouldn’t want any old fashioned knobs and buttons cluttering up your nice minimal interior.
I have driven a Tesla S for over five years now, and it’s just not a problem. Controls for volume, play/pause, and forward/back are on the steering wheel, and are simple and easy to use without looking down or losing concentration. Controls for the fan, temperature, roof, etc. are also on the steering wheel, all also easy to use without distraction. In fact, the steering wheel controls are simpler and easier to use than in many rental cars I’ve driven, including a fancy Infiniti I’m driving today, which is covered with so many buttons that one must feel around to find the right one.
I’m not worried about my passengers having to take their eyes off the road, and I’m happy that I don’t have to, either.
I recommend actually doing a Tesla test drive. Spend one or two minutes familiarizing yourself with the controls before starting and you’ll see that it’s just not an issue.