How soon until the Touchscreen feels outdated?

[Jhall118]

It's kind of sad to me that a touchscreen in a car is so revolutionary, but at the same time, I find myself looking at my new (Acer W700) fully functional Windows 8 tablet with it's own operating system and longing for the day when my car console is actually just a computer. Not a functionally limited tablet, but just a fully functional computer, with all the apps and programs that I want!

At the rate computers are progressing, this could be easily doable in the next five years or so, and I will be sad if Tesla isn't the first ones to do it. Why not just give me a full computer in my car. with the ability for me to write apps that I want to develop on my own? Anyone else feel the same way? Of course the necessary car software will have to be untouchable for safety reasons... but for my generation (a little bit young) we want to be surrounded by computers, not limited by things that look like a computer but aren't!

 

[MrOteece]

The cloud is the future, and your car can connect to the Internet. Write web applications. The browser is HTML5 compliant, AFAIK.

 

[brianman]

It's kind of sad to me that a touchscreen in a car is so revolutionary, but at the same time, I find myself looking at my new (Acer W700) fully functional Windows 8 tablet with it's own operating system and longing for the day when my car console is actually just a computer. Not a functionally limited tablet, but just a fully functional computer, with all the apps and programs that I want!

At the rate computers are progressing, this could be easily doable in the next five years or so, and I will be sad if Tesla isn't the first ones to do it. Why not just give me a full computer in my car. with the ability for me to write apps that I want to develop on my own? Anyone else feel the same way? Of course the necessary car software will have to be untouchable for safety reasons... but for my generation (a little bit young) we want to be surrounded by computers, not limited by things that look like a computer but aren't!

Food for thought ...

If they added a Remote Desktop application (or opened up enough of the SDK that a 3rd party could easily do it), then I'll sometimes be connecting to my home computers via the 17" when taking a lunch break while away from home.

 

[bob_p]

Touchscreens are not new. I had a Buick Riviera many years ago that had a touchscreen CRT for all of the console functions (radio, AC, ...).

The combination of the large high resolution displays and the powerful Tegra processors should provide plenty of hardware support for the life of the car.

What's most important is having Tesla continue to evolve and improve the software - even after they've started manufacturing new models, unlike what other manufacturers have been doing - that (at best) might only provide bug fixes after they've started manufacturing each model year.

 

[andystj]

At some point, there will be flexible/conforming OLED displays in these vehicles. Because OLED materials are emissive, there is no back-light. Accordingly, the areas that are not being used are completely off. Black is black with no glow. Using a plastic substrate to conform the screen to the shape of the dash is also much more easily accomplished without a back-light. Samsung just introduced the YOUM brand for their flexible OLEDs, and they will likely have cellphones with conforming displays on the market within the next 6 months. Larger screens and automotive implementation is a few years away. I don't expect to see it in the Gen III vehicle, but it may be an option on the next generation of high-end sedan.

IMHO, the implementation of OLEDs in the automotive arena will be the event that makes us feel like our screen is outdated.

 

[yobigd20]

The touchscreen will feel outdated when something better comes out and you won't need one anymore. What's after that? A high def HUD or holographic projections? We'll probably have mainstream driverless vehicles before that happens.

 

[ElSupreme]

Well there are two ways for the screen to 'feel' outdated. I don't foresee either happening within the next decade. There is also the chance that the processor can't keep up with future implementation and reacts slow, but I don't really see that as the touchscreen feeling outdated but someone might not agree with me.

First many cars, and especially low end cars, would have to have a similar implementation for the screen to start to feel dated. Right now there are only a few cars going with touchscreens, and even those aren't the full experience or as fully featured at the Tesla's. The standard Model life right now in the automotive world is about 4-8 years. And I don't see a full jump (except maybe in expensive high end cars, where their presence won't make the Tesla's 'feel' outdated) to large full featured touchscreen in a single model iteration. So while Bentley, RR, Lexus LS, may get a similar implementation next in the model improvement it won't contribute to feeling outdated. The Dodge Dart is the only car I see with the potential to 'upset' my thoughts as it just got an 8" touchscreen. But I highly doubt it will get close to the current Tesla standards anytime soon.

Second there could be a better interface than touch screen come around. This could happen, but I fail to see what how it would work. But if this happens it will probably take a few years to find it's way into ANY consumer electronics module. And then would take a while to get into other automobiles. So while the Tesla touchscreen might in 5 years feel outdated for a user interface (compared to consumer electronics) the touchscreen will still be great as far as automobiles go. And this happens all the time. Touchscreens have been out for 15 years in consumer electronics. And just in the past 2-3 made their way into cars.

Bottom line is the touchscreen is so far out in front as far as auto UI goes it won't feel outdated only because the auto industry doesn't/can't move quickly.