

After Ratings Drop, Ford Reworks Unpopular Touch Screens - cpeterso
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/business/after-ratings-drop-ford-reworks-touch-screens.html

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jballanc
Ah, this brings back memories of the old "If Detroit designed cars like
Microsoft designed software" jokes of the late 90s...

I once had the opportunity to chat with Woz. Somehow we got on the subject of
cars and he told me that he had a Toyota and a Mercedes. He explained that the
Toyota had all the latest and greatest technology. More features than you
could shake a stick at, so to speak. But! To cram in all those features, the
engineers had a monumental task. The end result was that you, as the driver,
were forced to adapt to the car.

On the other hand, he told me, while the Mercedes had less features you could
_tell_ that the first thing the designers had drawn in, when sketching out the
design, was the driver.

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ramanujan
Right. The fundamental problem here is that the old school buttons and dials
have a hidden logic to them: namely that you can distinguish and grasp them
without taking your eyes from the road.

This seems like a general UI consideration for physical objects. If the object
is being aimed at something or demands the use of vision, the affordances
should be designed for sight-free operation. Examples: a gun's trigger, a
camera's button, a car's gear shift, a microscope's stage adjustment.

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kapkapkap
For comparison, here are before and after shots for the XM radio display --

Before:
[http://image.automobilemag.com/f/29104541+w750+st0/2011-ford...](http://image.automobilemag.com/f/29104541+w750+st0/2011-ford-
edge-SEL-mytouch-screen.jpg)

After:
[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/11/myford...](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/11/myfordtouchsiriusradio-
screen.jpg)

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cubicle67
so I opened these two images in two tabs, and now looking at them I honestly
don't know which is the "improved" one. The black/red one looks a lot less
messy, but still kinda like a first draft from a high school student. the
other one's just plain horrible though, so I'll guess the black/red one

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nkassis
Ignore(for now ;p) the looks this was a usability upgrade.

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cont4gious
I think since Ford is sending the upgrade USB sticks directly to customers it
would now be quite easy for someone with malicious intent to send out fake
"upgrade" USB sticks to unsuspecting Ford owners. I'm not sure how dangerous
it would be from a safety, ram-car-into-tree, point of view but certainly they
would have access to any GPS data.

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trotsky
I'd be very surprised if a system like that doesn't check a signature before
applying an update.

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jinushaun
Touchscreens don't belong in cars. Many states are banning texting while
driving, but auto manufacturers are adding basically the same distracting user
experience in their cars and calling it a feature.

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mikeknoop
Actually (and annoyingly) in many vehicles the controls are disabled while the
vehicle is in motion. This is _very_ inconvenient when you have a passenger
trying to operate the console (such as input destination or do other actions)
but the car won't let you because you're not completely stopped.

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nkassis
mmm, a fix for that (not perfect) could be to activate the screen when the
passenger airbag is on (since most cars now have a sensor in the seat). Sure
the driver can still play with the screen but if you have a passenger it
shouldn't be off. Alternatively the screen could be setup so the viewing angle
changes when there is a passenger (I believe that's possible but I might be
wrong.)

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suresk
I'm not sure how bad Ford's touchscreen was, but this problem isn't unique to
them - car UIs in general still feel way behind what we are capable of. The
touchscreen on my 2011 Lexus is pretty disappointing - not very intuitive and
often really slow - and feels like something you'd expect from a 10 year old
car. I can't imagine Ford's offering being much worse.

To be honest, I'd rather see more investment into Siri-like voice capabilities
in a car, rather than improving the touchscreen. Some navigation tasks might
be a little tricky, but I think most car-related tasks lend themselves well to
voice interaction, and it is certainly less distracting than messing with a
touchscreen.

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sad_panda
Oh man, MyTouch was garbage. Complete crap. I test drove a Flex and was just
amazed at how awful it was. No touch feedback, sluggish response, dynamic
knobs and buttons meant you couldn't operate it blindly, and a milky backlit
LCD screen that still messed with your night vision even when it was supposed
to be displaying black. (OLED would do better here.)

I was stunned. I'm a geek and I think it's crap. I can't imagine
technoluddites being any more charitable.

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dkachaev
You may laugh, but when Sync/MyTouch hangs in my EDGE all I have to do is:
stop my car, shut down engine, open driver door, close driver door, start the
engine - and it reboots!!! : )

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CamperBob
Where, oh _where_ is the Apple of this space?

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jballanc
Here, I'd wager:
[http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/model?class=S&mod...](http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/model?class=S&model=S600V)

 _Edit_ : Skip to the "Audio & Entertainment" section to see how you can have
modern technology without the confusion. Especially check out the "SPLITVIEW
front-seat entertainment system". A screen that can show separate views to the
driver and front seat passenger? Yes, please!

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sad_panda
nit: that's not unique in the class

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wr1472
Range Rovers have that too and I think the Jaguar XF.

