In the automotive market for some time now there has been a trend that sees the progressive removal of physical knobs and buttons from new car models in favor of touch and touchscreen controls. A trend that at first involved only the functions most closely linked to the infotainment field, but which is now also expanding to control commands for functions more inherent to driving the vehicle and on-board comfort.

The Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare wanted to analyze this aspect with some tests, coming to the conclusion that modern touchscreen interfaces are less secure and efficient than their counterparts made of buttons, rotors and knobs. Over the past months, the magazine has carried out its tests on 12 car models: eleven of them chosen from the recent proposals of various car manufacturers (BMW iX, Dacia Sandero, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Mercedes GLB, MG Marvel R, Nissan Qashqai, SEAT Leon, Subaru Outback, Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID.3, Volvo C40) along with a 2005 Volvo V70 equipped with physical controls.

It was fairly simple tests: the drivers of the cars were asked to drive straight across an empty landing strip at a speed of about 110 km / h and to perform four different actions with the on-board controls, among those most commonly performed while driving a car such as adjusting the air conditioning or selecting a radio broadcast.




The results of the tests conducted by There Bilägare

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The readings were quite significant: the 2005 Volvo took first place, with a driver completing all four actions in ten seconds, covering 300 meters. The best result obtained with a car equipped with touch controls made it possible to stop the chronometer at 14 seconds, but in general all cars equipped with “non-physical” controls took at least twenty seconds and more than double the distance traveled compared to the 2005 Volvo.

Now, we are faced with an empirical study and a statistically small sample size, but the results obtained are still interesting as a starting point for some broader considerations on the controls inside the cars.

On the one hand, modern infotainment systems offer an incomparable level of comfort and safety compared to the past: just think of all the feedback possible thanks to the sensors, which allow us, for example, to carry out more precise and safe maneuvers thanks to cameras, radar and proximity sensors. For some functions the touch interfaces are almost an obligatory choice, also to avoid crowding the dashboard with numerous commands that would also become distracting elements.

However, it is equally true that touch interaction has in many cases expanded to functions more closely related to driving and which would however require more immediate, efficient and effective implementation and interaction mechanisms. prevent the driver from being distracted from driving. For example, the activation of the air conditioning or, as happens in some cars, the wipers: is it really necessary to have to go through the virtual controls of a display?

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To perform some actions, the touch interfaces are not very functional, since acting on a virtual command displayed on a perfectly smooth display forces you to take your eyes off the road. This happens since there is no tactile feedback that allows you to find a command without being distracted from driving, even simply proceeding “from memory”. A touch interface, on the other hand, often involves navigating some menus even for functions that should be immediately accessible.

What is happening inside the car is an experience that has already been experienced in consumer electronics, especially with smartphones, which have seen the virtualization of almost every type of physical interface.

With a smartphone, however, the worst risk is to give in to an angry reaction in the face of an unresponsive interface or the difficulty of finding a function that could be more effectively delegated to a button. In the car, the risks are of a completely different depth, when sometimes even a small distraction can cause an accident with unpredictable results. It is certainly not the case to demonize the touch interfaces in the car, but the hope is that they will be designed and implemented cum grain salis.

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