Touch Screen Controls are a Danger

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Limited and cruise controls should not be on the steering wheel either.
A couple of times, I’ve accidentally flicked the limiter switch and found myself in what feels like limp mode until I realise what I’ve done.
I swap between driving Angie's SLK55 which has the limiter and cruise control on the classic stalk, and my W177 A-Class that has the stupid steering wheel set up. The former is far, far, easier to use and putting it on the steering wheel is a real retrograde step.

Another annoyance is that on the SLK (and my previous cars with cruise and limiter on the stalk), once a limit speed is set you can switch to using cruise and on subsequently switching back to limiter, the previously set limit can be directly re-engaged. This is ideal when (for example) exiting a NSL dual carriageway when you could swap from cruise to limiter and just re-engage the previously set 40mph (or 30mph, or whatever) limit. On the A-Class, as soon as you switch to cruise the previously set limiter speed is deleted meaning that you can't just switch from one to the other without having to reset the limit. Irritating.
 
Do you have any evidence of that?
I admit, it's speculation based on the evidence of how unsuitable some of it is. If they did take input from automotive ergonomic "experts", I further speculate that it was either ignored, or they weren't that "expert" ;)
 
Auto-pilot and an autonomous (driverless) car are two very different things.

The former has been with us for a while now, the latter is still in its infancy.
 
The cruise stalk works perfectly, even with the added Distronic function. So much simpler than buttons on the wheel.

The cruise stalk was the best implementation out there and my view is 'the idiots blew it'.

MB wheel is way too cluttered with controls. The little touch nipples are a good idea in principle - but I have found it too easy to brush them and mess up the dash - and even if you are familiar with the car it can be a bit difficuklt to figure how to get it back to where it was.

They're not the worst though.

Car ergonomics in general are in an unhappy place right now IMHO. iDrive was hyped but is not that good. Fondle pads in the centre console are a not great. Touch control on the centre screen works well only when the car is stationary. And the wheel controls are being over loaded. Sadly voice looked hopeful a few years ago but seems to have stalled over the last 5 or 6 years.

The real only positive I can think of are the MB steering column gear selector stalk - but the company managed to throw away the cruise stalk - and one right doesn't offset a major wrong.
 
Do you have any evidence of that?

It seems a bit far fetched that even someone like Elon Musk would allow a car to be made without input from such experts.

I would argue that is actually the Modus Operandi of Musk. You can imagine him saying, 'take all that usual stuff, and throw it away, we are going be different....' I would say they got it 50% right.
 
Do you never phone a restaurant? Or a shop? Or a garage? Or a hotel? Or a company? Or a hospital?

Never found that useful.

Same as satnav POIs .... generally useless and no substuitute for a full postcode lookup (which remarkably seems to be missing on some recent MB satnavs I have encountered .... pathetic).

It's infuriating that some cars are pretty bad at dealing with contacts. And I have found WhatsApp seems to confuse every car I've driven in the last couple of years. (Typuically you get a call you cannot answer - and sometimes the numbers shows as tgeh last number you received or dialled).

Then there is Android and IOS car interfaces - some cars don't have them (ironically usually the higher grade cars) and it's still a bit hit or miss as to how well they will integrate - or get back to navigation after making/answering a call.

Finally - there is the 'attention alert'. I still can't figure the logic on these. My own car typically triggers it about 54 minutes afgter hitting cruise no a motorway. MB sometimes start annoying me after a couple of hours - sometimes a lot longer - smetimes repeatedly - sometimes one off. I'm not sure it isn't a randomly activated distraction.

Then we have sensors. I've been in a couple of hire cars that had sensor warnings that flashed up every so often - and frequently retriggered after being cancelled. The warning suppressed the information panel in the centre of the dashboard. the repeated warnings were of no benefit. I don't need to know the automatic parking system is offline when at 70mph on a motorway.
 
I would argue that is actually the Modus Operandi of Musk. You can imagine him saying, 'take all that usual stuff, and throw it away, we are going be different....' I would say they got it 50% right.

Eliminating switches and buttons starts to remove cost and while also removing constraints on updates. So once you go down that route it becomes quite attractive to designers and those thinking about selling add ons or new features.
 
I think part of the head long rush towards touch screen must have come from the feeling at the time that autonomous cars were the future even though we now know that it's not the immediate future. I defy any one to claim touch screen controls are as safe for key functions as discrete controls and the automotive industry must know this but some choose to ignore it. Just as they choose to ignore other form over function design features such as ultra low profile tyres and stupidly hard ride. We can have no expectation that the industry will magically regain some sanity so the German legal ruling is a welcome intervention which will hopefully spread to other countries.

I'm not a fan of the modern class action legal redress in general and the automotive industry could ill afford another one but perhaps it's time they were reminded that their number one priority should be to design safe cars.
 
....

The same buttons dial phone numbers of course, again all done without looking down.

....

So not hands free telephone. 😳 I'm impressed that you can dial a telephone number on a MB keypad without looking down.;) I've found the positioning of the keypad quite awkward in all the MBs I've ever owned.
 
Time will tell.

I can drive for hours without touching any knobs or screens, most people do.

Innovation will see most controls become automated, they already are really - climate control, auto lights and wipers etc.
 
Interesting outcome in Germany.

Reference the wipers then I have them set to Automatic so have no issues at all, they adjust speed dependant upon how heavy it rains. I now never need to touch this setting.

Prior to using “auto”, I used the wiper button on the indicator stalk (same as my previous Merc and most cars). This also miraculously allows you to squirt screen wash lol! Just like most other cars.....

So far the touchscreen has been fine. But if I need to adjust things like volume I can use the button on the steering wheel (not the screen). For anything else the voice control has been perfect, amazingly detects and interprets my mumbling voice easily and much better than previous cars.

The Tesla screen for monitoring the navigation, speed, battery level etc is no more distracting than when in my Merc, where I have to look down below the level of the windscreen to view items such as fuel level or the Speedo (And through the steering wheel), totally taking my eyes off the road, then looking down again below the level of the dash to adjust the aircon or switch on / off a heated seat. In the Merc even the sat nav and music is on a screen below the windscreen level and is awkward to see as it is quite small.

It’s swings and roundabouts, but it’s about adapting to change. I like a bit of both old and new so let’s see how it all progresses.
 
I think part of the head long rush towards touch screen must have come from the feeling at the time that autonomous cars were the future even though we now know that it's not the immediate future.

I don't think it is related to autonomous cars.

I think the designers are caught out by the availability of tablet and smart phone touch screen technology and the requirement to try and keep cars 'up to date'.

Don't build it to the car and basically you have a poor showroom offering. (Or your sales people say they have a poor showroom offering).

The trap I think is that the touch screen is often better when the vehicle is stationary - eg. flip through radio stations or media - or setup satnav. But on the move ..... oh dear.
 
Innovation will see most controls become automated, they already are really - climate control, auto lights and wipers etc.

Climate control is an example of a feature that many owners don't seem to be able to get to grips with.

- they never switch it to auto
- they use the temperature setting to simply raise or lower the temperature in the car (over shooting and undershooting) rather than leaving it at a set point and let the sytem do the work.

Not helped by variation in the way the vents work.

MB used to be very good at this. I have found the current A, C, and E rather less good than the cars of 10 to 15 years ago.
 
Don't forget the UK is at a disadvantage compared to other countries when it comes to operating touch screens, idrives etc. Drivers in most countries are using their right hand to operate these functions.
 
Don't forget the UK is at a disadvantage compared to other countries when it comes to operating touch screens, idrives etc. Drivers in most countries are using their right hand to operate these functions.

That's a good point.

But that doesn't negate the requirement to look at the screen to interact with it. And the problem with a touch screen is that you are typically having to extend your arm and hand to reach it, use hand/eye coordination to touch it accurately, and then potentially look at it to confirm the action.
 
That's a good point.

But that doesn't negate the requirement to look at the screen to interact with it. And the problem with a touch screen is that you are typically having to extend your arm and hand to reach it, use hand/eye coordination to touch it accurately, and then potentially look at it to confirm the action.
Spot on.

BTW, this is why touchscreens never really did catch-on when it comes to desktop PCs (in spite of several "all-in-one" PCs with touchscreens becoming available around 10 years ago), but only on phones and tablets (and some 'convertible' laptops).
 
I don't think it is related to autonomous cars.

I think the designers are caught out by the availability of tablet and smart phone touch screen technology and the requirement to try and keep cars 'up to date'.

Don't build it to the car and basically you have a poor showroom offering. (Or your sales people say they have a poor showroom offering).

The trap I think is that the touch screen is often better when the vehicle is stationary - eg. flip through radio stations or media - or setup satnav. But on the move ..... oh dear.
Perhaps there’s an element of showroom candy for inexpensive cars, but for expensive cars the use of a touch screen and voice control is more of a necessity, because there wouldn’t be enough space on the dashboard for physical buttons to control everything in a modern high-spec car!
 
Perhaps there’s an element of showroom candy for inexpensive cars, but for expensive cars the use of a touch screen and voice control is more of a necessity, because there wouldn’t be enough space on the dashboard for physical buttons to control everything in a modern high-spec car!

Actually I think that you've just said that the high spec cars end up with more 'candy'.

Example. BMW 7 Series was being hyped as having the clever key with the display pad. makes a great talking point and brochure imagse - but not really that useful. The manufacturers are perhaps finding it hard to invent new candy for the high spec cars.
 
Same as satnav POIs .... generally useless and no substuitute for a full postcode lookup (which remarkably seems to be missing on some recent MB satnavs I have encountered .... pathetic).
I will say that the natural language address lookup in the MBUX system in my W177 works remarkably well. "Navigate to 123 West Wallaby Street, Anytown" does work reliably, at least as long as the "Global Search" internet address lookup feature is enabled (it is by default as a no-cost Mercedes Me feature).

what3words is also supported by the car's sat-nav and is a better way to pinpoint a location than a postcode, but to use it you have to look up the w3w address on another device first 🤦‍♂️
But that doesn't negate the requirement to look at the screen to interact with it. And the problem with a touch screen is that you are typically having to extend your arm and hand to reach it, use hand/eye coordination to touch it accurately, and then potentially look at it to confirm the action.
The "look at it to confirm the action" is true for many voice activated commands too, which somewhat negates the benefit of that actuation method.
 

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