The Times has a Stick Up Its... When it Comes to Tesla.

[retinadoc]

The fact that they could do an article on buttonless dashboard user interfaces and not even mention the Model S' UI and touchscreen is astounding. The Acura MDX is the state of the art...really?:cursing:

Designing Dashboards With Fewer Distractions - NYTimes.com

 

[zeron]

That's because its not really an article on buttonless dashboards, but a piece of advertisement for the Honda Acura MDX. Research would just take longer for no added benefit.

 

[brianstorms]

From the article:

Eliminating physical buttons on the car’s console was crucial to improving safety. Too many buttons created too many decisions for a driver to make while the car was in motion. The new model limits buttons to major functions, like controlling the temperature.

I would love to see empirical evidence of this. And that goes for Tesla as well.

Too many buttons, sure. But get rid of all is actually better? And safer? I would argue the opposite. At least with physical buttons they stay put for the life of the car. With a screen, who knows where they'll be with the next software update.

 

[SCW-Greg]

Wait?! The same vehicle that USA Today trashed for the very same interface?!

Test Drive: Acura MDX remake flubbed electronics (read UI)

Test Drive: Acura MDX remake flubbed electronics

"MDX won't reliably stay paired with a Windows Phone. You must re-connect at almost every start-up. MDX does, however, have a soul mate in the iPhone 5.

The test vehicle often misunderstood voice commands.

The navigation makes it confoundingly complicated and menu-intensive to set your preferences, such as having the direction you want toward the top of the map.

The test vehicle had heated/cooled front seats. But they were synced to the climate control. To override, you have to dig into a menu and work the touch-screen. The climate control should remember your choice, not force you to override each time.

The way that the 2014 MDX drives and operates mechanically is a grand improvement. But Acura would be better off just copying its electronics/infotainment from those who do it best, General Motors and Chrysler, and paying a royalty."

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I own two cars. A Tesla model s and a 2014 acura mdx. The new acura is a great SUV. Best overall value in its market segment. It has been quite improved in its 2014 redesign. We have had an mdx traded in every 2-3 years since 2003.

But the user interface/buttonless dash is archaic compared to the tesla. Though it is better than prior mdx models by a good bit.

 

[kendallpb]

A new system being developed by Visteon responds to a driver’s gestures.

Gesture-/motion-based features in a moving vehicle seems like a bad idea to me. ;-)

 

[teslasguy]

Time magazine just did a large article on Edison and how great he was. Also talked up Fisker! Edison was an opportunist and thief!

 

[brianman]

I own two cars. A Tesla model s and a 2014 acura mdx. The new acura is a great SUV. Best overall value in its market segment. It has been quite improved in its 2014 redesign. We have had an mdx traded in every 2-3 years since 2003.

But the user interface/buttonless dash is archaic compared to the tesla. Though it is better than prior mdx models by a good bit.

Now that is a review worth reading. Not because of the conclusions, but because of the backing info.

 

[artsci]

The fact that they could do an article on buttonless dashboard user interfaces and not even mention the Model S' UI and touchscreen is astounding. The Acura MDX is the state of the art...really?:cursing:

Designing Dashboards With Fewer Distractions - NYTimes.com

When it comes to automotive "journalism" the Times is a yellow dog. I've been a subscriber all of my life and I'm increasingly alarmed at the Times' falling quality overall.

There have been several articles on new autos and innovations over the past month or so and not one mentions Tesla. Given the Broder disaster I think Tesla is third rail for the Times. Total bias against it.

 

[derekt75]

Too many buttons, sure. But get rid of all is actually better? And safer? I would argue the opposite. At least with physical buttons they stay put for the life of the car. With a screen, who knows where they'll be with the next software update.

Mostly agreed. I think the software update is actually a minor consideration compared to the way that physical buttons provide tactile feedback reducing the need for visual processing.
After 6 months of driving my Tesla, it still takes me a lot more eyeball time to do things on the screen than it does on cars with physical buttons.

On most cars, I can vent the sunroof without taking my eyes off the road at all. Try to do that with a Model S (especially if the last time you were in the Controls menu you were looking at your trip meters).
For me, physical buttons would be safer. just not as cool.

 

[ModelS8794]

On most cars, I can vent the sunroof without taking my eyes off the road at all. Try to do that with a Model S (especially if the last time you were in the Controls menu you were looking at your trip meters).
For me, physical buttons would be safer. just not as cool.

I vent the sunroof by pressing the right steering wheel scroll wheel once. The left steering wheel scroll wheel mutes my speakers with the same single push. these are actually the easiest functions to deal with in the whole car IMO.

I believe the right steering wheel scroll wheel has customizable features, so perhaps yours is set to a different feature. if you find yourself venting the sunroof a lot, consider changing the functionality to that feature and you'll save yourself some effort.

 

[derekt75]

I vent the sunroof by pressing the right steering wheel scroll wheel once. The left steering wheel scroll wheel mutes my speakers with the same single push. these are actually the easiest functions to deal with in the whole car IMO.

I believe the right steering wheel scroll wheel has customizable features, so perhaps yours is set to a different feature. if you find yourself venting the sunroof a lot, consider changing the functionality to that feature and you'll save yourself some effort.

My right wheel is fan speed.

Given the car's "auto" fan speed is rarely what I want it to be, that's the feature I use most often, and I have a hard time imagining why any owner would not do the same.

I wouldn't mind as much if the non-wheel buttons on the steering wheel were more useful. like if the non-wheel buttons could select between fan speed and sunroof, that would be nice. The wheel can select between them, but that interface requires me to spend as much eyeball time as using the big touchscreen.
and the non wheel buttons for the stereo are also crippled. On any other car, the up/down buttons scan your presets, not just scan to the next station.

 

[djplong]

Maybe they should add "Sunroof" "Open Full", "Open crack" and "Close" voice commands

 

[Martini]

When it comes to automotive "journalism" the Times is a yellow dog. I've been a subscriber all of my life and I'm increasingly alarmed at the Times' falling quality overall.

There have been several articles on new autos and innovations over the past month or so and not one mentions Tesla. Given the Broder disaster I think Tesla is third rail for the Times. Total bias against it.

I'm sad to say that I completely agree with you. I expected better from the NYT.

 

[DDotJ]

I think that a large touchscreen interface would actually be safer, than say a Mercedes with its scroll wheel. (Given that the driver is not browsing while driving) With the scroll wheel, i find that I am looking at the screen, then down to find the scroll wheel, then back up to change tracks or stations. the nav, music, settings, etc have a little virtual highlighted item that that your cursor has to move to in order to select that option. Like activating music through bluetooth, you have to use the cursor to go to a drop down menu, select source, then select from a list of devices. It sort of requires you to watch the screen and move the little cursor to the button you want to toggle. It takes SEVERAL seconds and requires you to be looking away from the road. (therefore i do not touch these while driving, only at red lights) But with the large touchscreen dash, you kind of know where everything is and although you can't feel for the knobs, you can take a quick glimpse, and move your finger to where the large button is and tap it instead of fussing with a knob and moving a little highlighted box to the desired location. And things such as fan speed can be adjusted by the scroll wheel on the steering wheel. Although we shouldn't be touching all these settings while driving, I personally believe that the large screen with large buttons is indeed safer.

 

[kendallpb]

Maybe they should add "Sunroof" "Open Full", "Open crack" and "Close" voice commands

Wait, that's an awesome idea. Seriously, and it's totally doable, too! I look forward to more simple controls like this being turned into voice commands. Honestly, I wouldn't use it much, but I do hope Tesla adds a "Sunroof" keyword to the voice commands.

BTW on the whole button thing, apparently (according to my friend's brother, who designs cars for a living) the whole over-complicated button-infested center stack control in "other" cars is . . . like the 2nd (3rd? I forget) most expensive part of the car. I was surprised.

 

[Mayhemm]

When it comes to automotive "journalism" the Times is a yellow dog. I've been a subscriber all of my life and I'm increasingly alarmed at the Times' falling quality overall.

There have been several articles on new autos and innovations over the past month or so and not one mentions Tesla. Given the Broder disaster I think Tesla is third rail for the Times. Total bias against it.

I would argue that the Times (or at least important people at the Times) have had an anti-Telsa bias since before the Broder fiasco. Otherwise, they would not have assigned Broder, a journalist with a history of anti-EV bias, to do the Model S article in the first place. You'd think they would want someone objective if they weren't trying to skew the outcome. Perhaps it was even suggested that Border should take a few "side trips" during his review...

 

[aviators99]

I think it's mutually beneficial if the Times never mentions Tesla again.