>>I can’t imagine paying $40,000+ on a new car that isn’t a Tesla right now
It's personal & subjective, and nobody will persuade anybody in a thread, but FWIW I absolutely positively can.
- I'm unlikely to utilize self-driving any time soon
- The stories of their firmware terrify me. And I don't want a DAW and computer games running on my ECU :O
- More pragmatically though, the Tesla UI paradigm is completely foreign to my way of driving/thinking.
I'm looking for a "HOTAS" type UI, where I can do anything I want without taking my eyes and focus off the road. A UI that's one giant screen, that may change position of buttons from minor firmware to another, is basically as scary and alienating concept as I can imagine.
I get that I am in a minority nowadays - a lot of manufacturer's are replacing switches, buttons and knobs with a touchscreen and deep menus, but not thankfully all just yet :|
Next, Previous, Pause, Play, Mute - I personally want them to be physical controls. On steering wheel ideally, on the dashboard otherwise. I use them multiple times a drive, and I don't want to take my eyes off the road to do them.
Same with seat heat, lights, wipers - anything I may want to do while driving, I want a button.
Setting up the exact shade of my dashboard light - that can be buried in a menu :D
Basically... when you say "Crazy how many buttons my normal car has" :
- You say that as a bad thing
- I see that as a brilliant thing... IFF done well:
Of course, physical buttons/levers/knobs can still be done well, or poorly.
Having many identical buttons in a confusing layout is just as bad as touchscreen - I have to look at them to use them.
Having buttons in a good, intuitive layout; especially buttons which are distinct from each other, as opposed to row of 6 buttons all the same, is brilliant. Even better if it's a distinct combination of buttons, knobs, switches, levers, etc - anything to help haptic feedback and intuitive access. Sometimes I think people who are against buttons may simply never had a car with good physical UI:/
(simple thing - my old 2004 WRX has a next / previous knob-like-thing, rather than two identical buttons next to each other [1]. It felt ridiculous when I first saw it - but then I realized its quality of purpose vs sexiness - I never ever ever have to think or be distracted even a millisecond to know exactly how to skip a song :). Compare to cars which have several identical square buttons for next, previous, pause, play; or temp up, temp down, fan up, fan down, A/C -- that's just horrible UI by clueless people for customers who don't know / haven't experienced better :-/ ]
Everything you need at least once week while driving in a car should be doable without taking your eyes from the road for more than a second. Radio, AC, window heating and such fall under this category.
And you have exactly the same amount of buttons on a screen anyway, they're just not physical.
> I'm looking for a "HOTAS" type UI, where I can do anything I want without taking my eyes and focus off the road.
I agree, the cockpit design on the Tesla is not my choice and may actually be a deal breaker. But since there is a 30 day no commitment period I’m willing to give it a shot and see how it works in actual use.
But I feel a lot of it is:
Sexiness of how it looks
vs
Practicality of usage
The problem is, sexiness is immediately obvious & attractive. Practicality takes a long time and active observation to notice and appreciate. I fear that touchscreens with bad UI will win; though I hope eventually there may be some backlash from consumers - or at least thought and compromise from manufacturers. :-/
Tesla's increasing have voice commands for most functions. What you said was true before but isn't now. Honestly this feature, being able to push updates to the entire fleet when ready is a significant killer feature.
Again, at the risk of sounding like a grouchy old man (which I suppose I am :P), when I'm chatting with my wife and kids, I have limited intetion of interrupting that conversation to turn on the lights or seat warmer or wipers or change a song :-/. And even when alone - the amount of time and subconscious effort to hit a button, vs converse with the computer...
Honestly - these shouldn't be "either or". Sure, have a screen and voice for those who prefer - but leave a button or six for us ol' timers :-)
It's personal & subjective, and nobody will persuade anybody in a thread, but FWIW I absolutely positively can.
- I'm unlikely to utilize self-driving any time soon
- The stories of their firmware terrify me. And I don't want a DAW and computer games running on my ECU :O
- More pragmatically though, the Tesla UI paradigm is completely foreign to my way of driving/thinking.
I'm looking for a "HOTAS" type UI, where I can do anything I want without taking my eyes and focus off the road. A UI that's one giant screen, that may change position of buttons from minor firmware to another, is basically as scary and alienating concept as I can imagine.
I get that I am in a minority nowadays - a lot of manufacturer's are replacing switches, buttons and knobs with a touchscreen and deep menus, but not thankfully all just yet :|