Touchscreen practical while driving? Safety issue?

[smoothoperator]

I go back and forth on this. With a touchscreen you can bury rarely-used items in sub menus thereby freeing up space for commonly-used ones. If you have physical buttons you can't do this - every function has to have a button. And I have had my finger get bounced into the wrong button before. If anything a touchscreen can help here as they could make it work like an iphone and only select when you remove your finger. So you could press and hold and only when you're sure you're on the right selection you could remove your finger. Yes you have to take your eyes off the road but you have to do that with buttons too. Finally, you can make the selections on a touchscreen enormous and in fact easier to hit without looking than a button.

With mechanical buttons you can absolutely remember the location. Seat adjustments can be made by feel rather than looking at touch screen several times to make sure you are on the right screen and selecting the right virtual button. If you had a problem with your finger getting bounced on the wrong button before (with a mechanical button) how is a touch screen easier to manipulate (that has virtual buttons and several different virtual control screens)? An iphone takes more attention than a phone with a qwerty keyboard, you have to look at the virtual keyboard and make sure you are hitting the right letters, on a mechanical qwerty keyboard you can memorize the layout of the keys and use it without physically looking . There is a reason there is a huge aftermarket for add on keyboards for the ipad etc...

I am not sure why you would have to take your eyes off the road after you become familiar with the buttons? Most seat adjustment buttons are shaped like seats etc

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

Sorry but seat adjustments should be made prior to driving.
Cars older than and including the '02 lexus that I currently own have all climate control and radio functions via touchscreen

so why should this be of any concern? It is not new

 

[smoothoperator]

Sorry but seat adjustments should be made prior to driving.
Cars older than and including the '02 lexus that I currently own have all climate control and radio functions via touchscreen

so why should this be of any concern? It is not new

my 08 gx470 has redundant HVAC/radio controls...you can control it both with the touch screen and mechanical buttons. Much easier to turn the radio off/volume or change the station via the physical knobs than with the touch screen. Heck most of the time I never even hit the I agree button on the screen, as it is much easier to use the mechanical buttons than the touchscreen to do basic functions.

 

[strider]

With mechanical buttons you can absolutely remember the location. Seat adjustments can be made by feel rather than looking at touch screen several times to make sure you are on the right screen and selecting the right virtual button. If you had a problem with your finger getting bounced on the wrong button before (with a mechanical button) how is a touch screen easier to manipulate (that has virtual buttons and several different virtual control screens)? An iphone takes more attention than a phone with a qwerty keyboard, you have to look at the virtual keyboard and make sure you are hitting the right letters, on a mechanical qwerty keyboard you can memorize the layout of the keys and use it without physically looking . There is a reason there is a huge aftermarket for add on keyboards for the ipad etc...

I am not sure why you would have to take your eyes off the road after you become familiar with the buttons? Most seat adjustment buttons are shaped like seats etc

With a touchscreen you can make the relevant selection areas much larger than a physical button thereby making the touchscreen easier to use than physical buttons. Also a touchscreen can be context-aware so you don't have to have 60-buttons available all the time. You only have to display the selections relative to the current mode. Yes, there are a TON of opportunities to screw up the UI but that's a UI design problem and not a problem with the interface method per se. For instance you can have terrible UIs that use buttons.

Finally, Model S will have buttons for seat adjustments in the usual place.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I am not sure why you would have to take your eyes off the road after you become familiar with the buttons? Most seat adjustment buttons are shaped like seats etc

I was told at Santana Row that the seat adjustments will be the traditional below-seat set of physical controls.

 

[smoothoperator]

With a touchscreen you can make the relevant selection areas much larger than a physical button thereby making the touchscreen easier to use than physical buttons. Also a touchscreen can be context-aware so you don't have to have 60-buttons available all the time. You only have to display the selections relative to the current mode. Yes, there are a TON of opportunities to screw up the UI but that's a UI design problem and not a problem with the interface method per se. For instance you can have terrible UIs that use buttons.

Finally, Model S will have buttons for seat adjustments in the usual place.

On the home screen of the Model S beta's I have seen there are about 25 virtual buttons. None of these seem to be much larger than the physical buttons I have on my cars? I know the 911 has tiny buttons but most sedans have larger buttons than the 911. It seems as most of the screen real estate is used for album art and non essential functions?

Hopefully the 17 inch touch screen will play more of a support/entertainment role and most drivers will be using the steering wheel controls (physical)/instrument cluster/voice control.

 

[AustinPowers]

But it's no different than someone fiddling with temperature controls or the radio. Buttons or touchscreens, people have been taking their eyes off the road for as long as there have been roads. Are you going to ban children and other passengers? Food and drinks? Also, if you've looked at a 911 console recently there are like 60 buttons with a little picture on each of them - there's no way you can memorize them all so you are once again taking your eyes off the road. Modern cars are complex - there needs to be some smart UI design.


I go back and forth on this. With a touchscreen you can bury rarely-used items in sub menus thereby freeing up space for commonly-used ones. If you have physical buttons you can't do this - every function has to have a button. And I have had my finger get bounced into the wrong button before. If anything a touchscreen can help here as they could make it work like an iphone and only select when you remove your finger. So you could press and hold and only when you're sure you're on the right selection you could remove your finger. Yes you have to take your eyes off the road but you have to do that with buttons too. Finally, you can make the selections on a touchscreen enormous and in fact easier to hit without looking than a button.

Talking about the 911 with its loads of buttons, true. But we are talking about the Model S that hasn't got all that many functions. Let's not forget that it hasn't got any fancy driving assistants. Just look at Tesla's tech package to see what they are calling state of the art. From that you can see

- no adaptive cruise control
- no roadsign assistant
- no head up display
- no LED headlights
- no side assist
- no active collision assist
- no night vision assist
- no sleepiness detection
- no pre-safe
- no lane-assist
- hell, not even parking sensors!

Not that I would miss all of those function, but be fair. How many buttons would the Model S have if there was no touchscreen. Definitely not more than my eight year old BMW. That has got more fancy features than the Model S and still there are very few buttons.

 

[AustinPowers]

By the way, the specs and standard features are now up on the Tesla website.

 

[ElSupreme]

Talking about the 911 with its loads of buttons, true. But we are talking about the Model S that hasn't got all that many functions. Let's not forget that it hasn't got any fancy driving assistants. Just look at Tesla's tech package to see what they are calling state of the art. From that you can see

- no adaptive cruise control
- no roadsign assistant
- no head up display
- no LED headlights
- no side assist
- no active collision assist
- no night vision assist
- no sleepiness detection
- no pre-safe
- no lane-assist
- hell, not even parking sensors!

Not that I would miss all of those function, but be fair. How many buttons would the Model S have if there was no touchscreen. Definitely not more than my eight year old BMW. That has got more fancy features than the Model S and still there are very few buttons.

OK that isn't even fair. How many of those features need a button? How many would get a physical button?

I count 2
HUD, and Night Vision toggle buttons. And they wouldn't be required if the HUD/Nightvision (usually integrated) is not overly distracting.

The rest are passive or would have functionality with less 'advanced' features.
adaptive CC, same as vanilla
LED Headlamps, same as vanilla

and I don't even know what pre-safe is.

On a side note I really am not seeing the LED headlamp bandwagon. They have some minor advantages, and I think they will get less expensive (than HID), but HID lamps are pretty much equal in performance. I think the auto industry is trying to sell them as 'better' so they can get price down equal to, and eventually below, HID. Not because they are better but because they are easier to warranty/replace/fit.

 

[smoothoperator]

OK that isn't even fair. How many of those features need a button? How many would get a physical button?

I count 2
HUD, and Night Vision toggle buttons. And they wouldn't be required if the HUD/Nightvision (usually integrated) is not overly distracting.

The rest are passive or would have functionality with less 'advanced' features.

Park Assist usually has a button to toggle on and off....

Some other ones you forgot where cars usually have buttons:
Power Folding Mirrors
Power Sunshade
Auto Closing Trunk
Ventilated Seats
Headlight Cleaners
Multi-Contour Seats

 

[AustinPowers]

Park Assist usually has a button to toggle on and off....

Some other ones you forgot where cars usually have buttons:
Power Folding Mirrors
Power Sunshade
Auto Closing Trunk
Ventilated Seats
Headlight Cleaners
Multi-Contour Seats

Right, I forgot those.

And as for ElSupreme: the biggest advantage of LED vs. HID (like xenon) is that - apart from them needing less battery capacity, they last almost forever.

 

[ElSupreme]

Park Assist usually has a button to toggle on and off....

Some other ones you forgot where cars usually have buttons:
Power Folding Mirrors
Power Sunshade
Auto Closing Trunk
Ventilated Seats
Headlight Cleaners
Multi-Contour Seats

Power Folding Mirrors - should not be operated when driving! No issue with screen control.
Power Sunshade - The Pano roof probably should have a button, got me there!
Auto Closing Trunk - should not be operated when driving! Why would you need a button up front anyway?
Ventilated Seats - These fall in with climate control. I am a set it and forget it type. But this would be an extra button.
Headlight Cleaners - Part of the windshield washers, same as on my GTI no extra buttons.
Multi-Contour Seats - Tesla has them on the seats

So 3 or 4 buttons.

 

[david_42]

Plus, if you are excessively photo sensitive, as I am, and wear polarizing prescription glasses, a screen is almost impossible to read. I can't even see the GPS on the dash when I wear them.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Auto Closing Trunk - should not be operated when driving! Why would you need a button up front anyway?

Real scene: at the school parking lot; son running across the quad in pouring rain with giant gym bag. I open the rear automatically from the driver's seat, he throws the wet bag in the back, then hops into the passenger seat.

Real scene 2: I park to unload groceries in the back. As I get out, I hit the "open liftgate" button so that by the time I'm around to the back, it's open.

 

[strider]

Real scene: at the school parking lot; son running across the quad in pouring rain with giant gym bag. I open the rear automatically from the driver's seat, he throws the wet bag in the back, then hops into the passenger seat.

Real scene 2: I park to unload groceries in the back. As I get out, I hit the "open liftgate" button so that by the time I'm around to the back, it's open.

You could open the trunk (and frunk) from the touchscreen on the betas. If you get the tech package surely you'll be able to close it from the touchscreen too?

 

[doug]

Plus, if you are excessively photo sensitive, as I am, and wear polarizing prescription glasses, a screen is almost impossible to read. I can't even see the GPS on the dash when I wear them.

Depends on the polarization orientation of the screens. Hopefully it's vertical, though I'm not sure many vendors offer that.

 

[NigelM]

Going back to the original question. I asked today about web surfing etc. Seems there are 2 schools of thought within Tesla, safety on one side and allowing an adult passenger reasonable access on the other. I didn't hear anything definite but got the impression that there may be a compromise where the driver/owner specifies what screens can be used while the vehicle is in motion.

 

[bob_p]

Lexus locks out most of the touch screen commands while the vehicle is moving. While they have voice command - I usually end up setting destinations through the touch screen - and when they lock out the normal navigation commands while moving - I end up doing even more screen work - trying to move the map to where I want to go - zoom in - and then go through the enter destination screen.

It would be much better if they just allow us to sign a waiver accepting full responsibility - rather than trying to "protect" the drivers by limiting the interface and then forcing the driver and passenger to find even more distracting ways to work around the limitations...

 

[rogbmw]

Just last night I saw an ad for the new Mercedes (I think it was the C class), and when it showed the dash there were many buttons arranged in rows. They may not be a touch screen, but you would have to look at them to figure out what is what.

 

[smoothoperator]

Just last night I saw an ad for the new Mercedes (I think it was the C class), and when it showed the dash there were many buttons arranged in rows. They may not be a touch screen, but you would have to look at them to figure out what is what.

View attachment 5758

The buttons on the right side of the radio is a numeric keypad, the ones on the left are for changing the source...most of the specific functions are done by manipulating that knob in the middle and selecting the option on the display or via steering wheel controls and cluster.