Technology in Cars

diystarter7

photome said:

Johnmcl7 said:

diystarter7 said:

Btw - is it me  - I find it hard to control stuff on the touch buttom dashboards as I have to take eyes of the road, I'm glad I still have a radio knob and two for climate control. As I wear glasses for driving, diffuclt to see the little symbols on the lower dash to trun on rear hear/seatsheat/cool and or chaing the air vents to sides/scress down etc

I'm confident in a few years time car makers will return to put more knobs on  cars as you dont need to look down really.
 The voice commands are hit and miss in my car but I've had steering controls to adjust radio etc etc since 95 and these are often well though out


BTW - a gadget that I've not heard about in other cars is when I ope my car door and lets say I have forgotten to take it out of drive, opening the door with the engine running automatically puts the car into park mode,

Thnaks

No, not just you:

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/swedish-study-finds-physical-buttons-are-safer-than-touchscreens

It's something I appreciate about my car is that it has a range of well designed physical controls that can be easily adjusted without looking.  Unfortunately at the moment cars seem to be moving towards less controls which I assume is simpler and cheaper but I feel a step back for drivers.

The Vag group have recognised the need for physical buttons and are reintroducing them

Hi

That is great news and I hope the others follow

Thnaks

oldagetraveller1

I suspect my comment re more of them behind the wheel flew right over your head!

Grumpy_chap

I suspect the direction of travel in car design will be more towards a single interface than discrete switches.  The single interface must make the wiring loom much simpler (cheaper) and the screen can be a non-bespoke proprietary item so easy to replace if needed.  I guess it is only basic control of the vehicle that is required if the single interface failed.

photome

Grumpy_chap said:

I suspect the direction of travel in car design will be more towards a single interface than discrete switches.  The single interface must make the wiring loom much simpler (cheaper) and the screen can be a non-bespoke proprietary item so easy to replace if needed.  I guess it is only basic control of the vehicle that is required if the single interface failed.

Even the new prototype ID2 has gone back to button/knobs for the AC 

I hope others follow VAG in reintroducing an easy way to control AC rather than a single touchscreen interface where by the time you have found the slider to control the temp you may have left the road

Car_54

Grumpy_chap said:

I suspect the direction of travel in car design will be more towards a single interface than discrete switches.  The single interface must make the wiring loom much simpler (cheaper) and the screen can be a non-bespoke proprietary item so easy to replace if needed.  I guess it is only basic control of the vehicle that is required if the single interface failed.

It seems the direction of travel has been reversed, due to customer resistance.

diystarter7

[Deleted User] said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I suspect the direction of travel in car design will be more towards a single interface than discrete switches.  The single interface must make the wiring loom much simpler (cheaper) and the screen can be a non-bespoke proprietary item so easy to replace if needed.  I guess it is only basic control of the vehicle that is required if the single interface failed.

It seems the direction of travel has been reversed, due to customer resistance.

Let's hope we see Mercedes tag along with VW group

Ganga

The best driving aid i have ever used was a reversing camera mounted to the back of a Mercedes Sprinter van ,it had no rear windows and also had a tow hitch fitted ,could reverse right up to the hitch on a trailer ,wish i had it on my Vauxhall Astra ,i have always had problems with gauging distances behind the car when using mirrors ,on the plus side i have never hit another car in the car park BUT have had to get back in and go back another foot or two.

HillStreetBlues

In my new (well new to me)  car it has power steering, I love new tec

prowla

MouldyOldDough said:

prowla said:

Overall, I think the informative features are good, but I have mixed experiences with the active ones.

• I found lane assist quite intrusive and turned it off; I keep the steering wheel rumbling on though.
• I've never used my car's parking assist.
• My car is quite good at spotting pedestrians/obstacles, though it doesn't quite get things right: once it triggered on a motorbike rider stopped at a give-way on a bend, another at a pedestrian on the pavement on a bend, and another square manhole in the road at the bottom of steep hill.
• It is pretty bad at speed limits; beyond generally missing signs, in particular there's a 30 mph road which it thinks is 80, and a couple of weeks ago it told me that a 40 mph road was 100 (there are no public roads in the UK with 80 or 100 mph limits)!
  
• My reversing camera and warnings is very good.
• I was looking at getting a new car and would've included an all-round camera, but the dealer messed up the sale (this week) so I've walked away.
• I regularly use satnav, but oftentimes prefer to take different turns on the overall route. Once the satnav went completely wrong and thought my driving along a dual carriageway was in the middle of a lake; it must've been an overall glitch, but it was a fail.
  

So, I have to say I don't 100% trust the active tech.

I assumed that speed limits were set using GPS rather than reading signs? 

I think it does both.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

The 360’ cameras on my Leaf are a game changer as far as parking goes. Every car should have them.