Stalkless....until 2026 anyway!

[rincewind]

There are a few things which are decidedly awkward on the touchscreen, for example defrost and defog are in sub menus

I've dragged these to the main row at the bottom, as I use them a lot.

 

[djtaylor]

Agreed on the law. The fun part is actually, studies shows that interacting with fixed infotainment screens such as CarPlay is actually worse in terms of driver safety & reaction time than a hand held mobile phone... Larger ban on touchscreens incoming?

The interesting thing with these charts though is that alone, they are a blunt instrument as they don't state what the test or function being performed was, nor whether it was even the same.
Example, speed dialling a number and holding a phone to the ear is a different function from typing in an address in a satnav whether on a hand held or touchscreen infotainment. Nor can the same test be performed on all devices, example being a feature phone vs a smart phone.
Of course, none of this will be relevant when FSD is driving the car and we're all watching Netflix right?!

 

[piffmunday]

I hope so, they’re bloody dangerous. A rotary dial like you used to get is a much safer way to interact with an infotainment system

The rotary dial was just for the volume right? You have a scroll wheel on the steering wheel now which is just as safe.

 

[Zilla91]

Rotary dials were used to navigate the screen and scroll through lists

 

[piffmunday]

Rotary dials were used to navigate the screen and scroll through lists

The only car I have had that used a knob to go through the menu's was a BMW with the idrive and that was terrible. Always getting moved accidentally by passengers

 

[robbieduncan]

I actually liked the iDrive in our old E61

 

[dan223]

This is kinda a moot point, they are just saying they need to be "buttons", which indicators are buttons now, regardless if they are on a stalk or not. The only thing that I believe doesn't meet the criteria is the SOS button which was moved from a physical button to the screen

 

[Zilla91]

The only car I have had that used a knob to go through the menu's was a BMW with the idrive and that was terrible. Always getting moved accidentally by passengers

Ask your passengers to sit still?

 

[GRiLLA]

Seems a bit of a regressive approach to insist that only a specific solution is acceptable, surely the point should be that using these functions is appropriate fast and minimises distraction from the road. I could attach a keyboard and require you to type in "Turn on windscreen wipers" which would still be pressing buttons, but would be poor in terms of safety.

Performing actions automatically (reliably!) is a far safer solution as there is no distraction at all.

 

[Drew57]

Performing actions automatically (reliably!) is a far safer solution as there is no distraction at all.

Voice control rather than using the screen normally works very well for both me and my wife (excepting wiper speeds, trying to navigate anywhere in Wales ...or me trying to control her of course).