Apple CarPlay And Android Auto - Unsafe

[Mr. Dazzle]

The issue of operating systems being good/bad/safe/dangerous is secondary to the issue that you should really have the common sense to put the operation of your vehicle above that of listening to your favourite playlist.

What about when the touchscreen cycles through various screens that access vehicle functions?

Again, this is where somebody operating a vehicle is meant to exercise good judgement. Seat belts are up there in terms of safety, but adjusting them for height whilst driving is a bloody silly thing to do. Ditto seat adjustments. All this should be done whilst the vehicle is stationary. Same with any infotainment systems. If it can't be done safely, wait 'til it's safe to do so.

This is why I don't get a lot of the criticism of these touchscreen systems. IME everything you'd need to do when driving is a physical button still. The only potential argument is the demist button, but as above in my car at least that never moves on the screen*. Besides, if you desperately need to be able to see out using the demister you shouldn't be moving yet anyway!

Anything you 'might like to do' such as switching radio station is also on the wheel as a real button, or on the highest possible level in the screen.

Programming the sat nav has always been something you're meant to do when stationary. The car even says "don't programme me if you're driving" when you turn it on.

Climate control takes care of the temperature. I set my car to 20°C when I first got it and haven't had need to change it since.

*Plus you can work it with voice activation, natch .

[KungFooBob]

How do you activate the passenger ejector seat without them realising if you've got to use a centrally mounted touch screen?

Is there a physical button to rotate the number plates, you probably need to do that while driving?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Voice activation is a dead give away too

[KungFooBob]

Voice activation is a dead give away too

Especially if it doesn't understand the first time, you might not get chance to repeat it.

[Rockburner]

What about when the touchscreen cycles through various screens that access vehicle functions?

Again, this is where somebody operating a vehicle is meant to exercise good judgement. Seat belts are up there in terms of safety, but adjusting them for height whilst driving is a bloody silly thing to do. Ditto seat adjustments. All this should be done whilst the vehicle is stationary. Same with any infotainment systems. If it can't be done safely, wait 'til it's safe to do so.

This is why I don't get a lot of the criticism of these touchscreen systems. IME everything you'd need to do when driving is a physical button still. The only potential argument is the demist button, but as above in my car at least that never moves on the screen*. Besides, if you desperately need to be able to see out using the demister you shouldn't be moving yet anyway!

Anything you 'might like to do' such as switching radio station is also on the wheel as a real button, or on the highest possible level in the screen.

Programming the sat nav has always been something you're meant to do when stationary. The car even says "don't programme me if you're driving" when you turn it on.

Climate control takes care of the temperature. I set my car to 20°C when I first got it and haven't had need to change it since.

*Plus you can work it with voice activation, natch .

It sounds like your system is setup and configured particularly well.

Have you tried any other systems recently? For example - I was in a year old Golf recently : the heater controls are capacitative buttons sunk into the dash with nothing to tell you where they are apart from a small icon in white paint. OK, they're in a fixed location, but there's zero haptic feedback to tell you if you've actually initiated the event to do anything, and the visual feedback (iirc) was somewhere on the central console screen where you had to take your eyes off the view ahead just see if you'd actually managed to run the heat on or not (mostly not)

[Mr. Dazzle]

Nah, only the latest and greatest 2023 system developed in conjunction with the big tech name over here I totally agree it's the absolute example of how it should be done. But TBF, this particular OEM are making a proper effort to differentiate themselves by the standards of their tech in this field.

My old Bimmer had the big screen but only a physical rotary controller. Much prefer the new touchscreen approach.

Mrs. D's 2006 Civic also has phone, sat nav, radio and climate control. They're all physical buttons but they're all also seperate systems. They don't even share a type face. It's way way worse than a single integrated thing IMO.

Re: Climate changes - if you do change the temperature in my car (not that I do, see above ) all the mood lighting (which includes backlit blower vents) fades to either blue/red for a couple of seconds before going back to the colour it was originally set to. Sounds like a cheesy feature, but its a nice 'organic' way of intuitively communicating the change.

[Rockburner]

Nah, only the latest and greatest 2023 system developed in conjunction with the big tech name over here I totally agree it's the absolute example of how it should be done. But TBF, this particular OEM are making a proper effort to differentiate themselves by the standards of their tech in this field.

My old Bimmer had the big screen but only a physical rotary controller. Much prefer the new touchscreen approach.

Mrs. D's 2006 Civic also has phone, sat nav, radio and climate control. They're all physical buttons but they're all also seperate systems. They don't even share a type face. It's way way worse than a single integrated thing IMO.

Re: Climate changes - if you do change the temperature in my car (not that I do, see above ) all the mood lighting (which includes backlit blower vents) fades to either blue/red for a couple of seconds before going back to the colour it was originally set to. Sounds like a cheesy feature, but its a nice 'organic' way of intuitively communicating the change.

Like I say - you've got a car that seems to have been done "well". Most are not.

[The Spin Doctor]

Besides, if you desperately need to be able to see out using the demister you shouldn't be moving yet anyway!

Doing 45-50 on a nice twisty A road in mid-August, ran into a hailstorm... windscreen fogged in seconds... couldn't find the heater / fan controls.

[Mr. Dazzle]

So you couldn't see out?

I'm sure you'd usually be the first to point out you shouldn't be moving in that case

[Horse]

So you couldn't see out?

I'm sure you'd usually be the first to point out you shouldn't be moving in that case

At a guess, stopping as briskly as possible might have meant an exchange of details with the driver behind

[cheb]

Besides, if you desperately need to be able to see out using the demister you shouldn't be moving yet anyway!

Doing 45-50 on a nice twisty A road in mid-August, ran into a hailstorm... windscreen fogged in seconds... couldn't find the heater / fan controls.

You mean you hadn't familiarised yourself with all the vehicle's controls before you set off? Shocking.

[Demannu]

Been driving daughter's Ford BMF last week. After 2 0r 3 mins my palms started to get a bit warm, then very warm, then hot!
It took 5 mins of searching various screens on the (admittedly massive) screen to discover the off setting.
It was nice to see that it still had good old fashioned dials and buttons for the heating controls (although there was of course an option to use the screen)

[iansoady]

You mean you hadn't familiarised yourself with all the vehicle's controls before you set off? Shocking.

I have to confess I'd been driving my new (to me) car for nearly a year before I worked out how to display the different trip functions......

[The Spin Doctor]

You mean you hadn't familiarised yourself with all the vehicle's controls before you set off? Shocking.

There was no way to tell the dozen or so buttons apart - they were identical, with no feel or shape to distinguish them... I managed to eject the CD and change radio channels though.

[KungFooBob]

You mean you hadn't familiarised yourself with all the vehicle's controls before you set off? Shocking.

I have to confess I'd been driving my new (to me) car for nearly a year before I worked out how to display the different trip functions......

I read the full manual for my car on the manufactures website a week before it was collected :p

[MrLongbeard]

They've been developing their own system which they want to sell as a subscription service:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/gm-p ... 023-03-31/

"We do believe there are subscription revenue opportunities for us," Kummer said. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is aiming for $20 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions by 2030.

And even more opportunities from selling your driving information https://dnyuz.com/2024/03/11/automakers ... companies/

[Mr. Dazzle]

They've been developing their own system which they want to sell as a subscription service:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/gm-p ... 023-03-31/

"We do believe there are subscription revenue opportunities for us," Kummer said. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is aiming for $20 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions by 2030.

And even more opportunities from selling your driving information https://dnyuz.com/2024/03/11/automakers ... companies/

I've probably mentioned this before, probably even in this thread!, but if you have any kind of app associated with your driving all of your behaviour is uploaded to a mothership somewhere. S'been that way for donkeys, even before the days of apps just plugging your vehicle into the dealer service computers downloaded all your 'history'.

I can go in to a system and select "the 95th percentile driver in Europe, total time spent in 3rd gear" or shit like that.

I have no idea how long or in what way this data might have been shared with insurance companies though. It's probably in those enormous T&Cs we don't read. I would imagine the person mentioned in that ^^^ article agreed to something they didn't read.

[Horse]

And even more opportunities from selling your driving information https://dnyuz.com/2024/03/11/automakers ... companies/

From the reporting, if true, the GM setup doesn't sound GDPR compliant. That's not a lot of use to the US drivers, though.

[Hot_Air]

has anyone yet realised that touch screen without haptic feedback are utterly shite, and positively dangerous for use in a driving environment?

^ this.

[Hot_Air]

The Times reported that drivers prefer physical buttons over touch screens, describing these screens as “distracting”:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/driv ... -fgktcn6lj

NCAP said touch screens were “raising the risk of distraction crashes.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stop ... -xv3gmpdc6