I want to get an electric car soon, so yesterday I was looking at the new Volvo XC30 online.
I was surprised to see that they've gone for the large, centred touch screen display for everything.
My car has a decent display, but I have a regular instrument panel behind the wheel and a HUD for the essentials.
I think of screens as a safety hazard, and my HUD to be a significant improvement to traditional instrument panels.
Why are (some) cars moving in the opposite direction now?
Also, I find displays to be inherently unreliable as a primary control interface. Maybe that's just me as a programmer not trusting software, but I have had issues with mine in my own car. It doesn't do anything critical, so it's not a major issue, but I get very sceptical when you depend on it for everything. They even have the speed displayed there.
@veronica touch screens as controls also mean that you have to look to change any setting - AC, radio, etc.
@tmr232 @veronica I was reminded of this article from @arstechnica ironically comparing touchscreen interfaces to the physical interface in an older Volvo.
"VB tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments.
The old Volvo was the clear winner. 'The four tasks is handled within ten seconds flat, during which the car is driven 306 meters at 110 km/h [1,004 feet at 68 mph],' VB found. Most of the other cars required twice as long, or more, to complete the same tasks."
@internic @tmr232 @veronica @arstechnica
Voice control is likely the safest. EV are very quiet so that works very well.
Ultimately self-driving cars will be the safest and you won't need to worry about taking your eyes off the road.
I think if it only responds to commands that are prefaced by a unique word such as "Alexa" then it is less likely to inadvertently perform a function during normal conversation. If it responds to the key word with a unique tone then the driver can quickly abort execution of any inadvertent requests.
(This toot was created using a voice-to-text system -- I only had to change one word, "than" to "then".)
@Pat @internic @veronica @arstechnica
Voice control becomes super tricky when you're also having a conversation.