European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1743 points –
European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
arstechnica.com
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IMO the capacititive buttons with no feedback are even worse than the touch screen. at least with the touch screen, you will likely have a colored UI element on screen to press. with the cars that replace all the buttons with capacitive buttons with no feedback, theyre all the same color.

I'd be fine with one that works like the Taptic engine on iPhones or how ever the trackpad on my Macbook does. It's a solid surface with no moving parts but it clicks when you press it and it feels 100% the same as pressing a physical button. It's way different than haptic feedback done with just the vibrator motor.

That doesn’t work well in a car though. It works in a phone because you’re holding it, or a trackpad because you’re putting a lot of pressure on it. In a car it’s already shaking from the engine, road, etc. Plus those taps are generally much shorter and lighter and less likely to feel the vibration.

Just have it swerve when you press a button!

no feedback? 🤔

either the button or an indicator lights up or you see/hear what the button is supposed to activate or stop

*haptic feedback. The touch and press should be two different actions, not the same action. Otherwise, you need to look at a button to know where it is and if it did what it was supposed to do, which distracts you from driving.

Touchscreens are not that much better in this regard, IMO

do you also need haptic feedback with light switches at home? How do you know if they work or not?

Light switches are physical objects, when you touch them you are going to feel them moving.

So..... yes.

Additionally, I’m not flipping light switches while controlling a giant machine capable of killing people. Not sure why they compared the two.

Of course I do. Imagine for a second not feeling the different light switches in the dark and turning on all the lights in the middle of the night just to go to the bathroom.

Sure, I know which I've touched AFTER I've touched it. I need to know BEFORE I press it, without having to look.