Buttons, dials and knobs
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Sang Yup Lee, Head of Hyundai Design, said the new model deliberately uses physical buttons and dials for many of the controls, specifically air-conditioning and the sound system. Lee said this is because the move to digital screens is often more dangerous, as it often requires multiple steps and means drivers have to take their eyes off the road to see where they need to press.
“We have used the physical buttons quite significantly the last few years,” Lee said. “For me, the safety-related buttons have to be a hard key.”
He added: “When you’re driving it’s hard to control it, this is why when it’s a hard key it’s easy to sense and feel it.”
Asked if Hyundai is committed to retain physical buttons in future models, Lee said that was his preference but did concede that will change when cars become more autonomous.
“We will continue to have [physical dials],” he said. “When it comes to Level 4 autonomous driving, then we’ll have everything soft key, but until then, as I said, when it comes to driving it’s safest to have your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.”
This is a significant decision from Hyundai, as the trend towards ‘cleaner’ interiors with more screens has moved to a potentially dangerous level. Too many modern cars require complicated, multi-stage sequences of virtual button pushing in order to do what should be simple tasks. For example, some modern cars with digital screens can require three steps on a digital screen just to change the temperature of the air-conditioning half a degree.
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On that note, on Monday I'll be helping a colleague who has never been in Epic learn to navigate and do some research on duplicate orders. The Chinese guy who is leading the team has, as one might expect, some communication challenges. He's absolutely brilliant, but he whips through things at a breakneck pace, changing screens far too quickly for a new user to absorb. It was on a Teams meeting and in the background I told him I'd guide him through it.
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You can feel for a knob or for a lever without taking your eyes off of the road. You can't do that with a menu on a touch screen.
Secondly, replace a knob and see what it costs. Now, replace a touchscreen and see what it costs.
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Yeap. Also seeing a trend where the on-dash infotainment screens get larger and larger. I have seen on-dash screens larger than an iPad Pro. Not that I have anything against large information screens per se, but the manufacturers put in these big screens without sufficient anti-glare treatment — it’s just dangerous for the driver if a blinding ray of sunlight gets reflected into your eyes from one of those giant screens.
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Yes, car makers to want to make things "look modern" just because they can, without thinking weather or not is really is an improvement.
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In Tesla's it's all on the screen in the middle off the dash. This is what my friend's Y looked like
@Mik said in Buttons, dials and knobs:
In Tesla's it's all on the screen in the middle off the dash. This is what my friend's Y looked like
That is the one of the biggest POS car interior designs, I have ever seen.
It's almost not a design at all.
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It looks like something designed by an engineer rather than a designer.
Which probably explains it.