Featured New safety ratings prioritize touch controls for key driving needs

Calling @Mendel Leisk

A few years ago, I came across an article where auto execs where preparing for when regulations turned against touch screens.

 

LoL; be careful what you wish for. They may start locking out certain functions while the car is in motion or in gear - Just like most nav systems and cell phone mapping software.

 

That would still exclude the car for getting the top safety score under the European and Australian NCAP regulations. The changes specifically call for physical controls to qualify for the top rankings.

 

It's about time. The way these touch screens are going - navigate through one screen, get to another, find what you're looking for, run through a busload of children, select the option you wanted...

Yeah, they've got a lot of functionality, but someone needs to throw a net over the way they're using the touchscreens.

 

As you yourself said, it is not the touchscreens that are dangerous, it is the way it is implemented.

The safest auto UI I ever used had a large touchscreen.
All controls needed for driving required were either on the screen or a single layer deep.

The worst UI I ever used had about 20 buttons which were all in a grid, evenly spaced, same size & shape, and poorly marked.

Give me a well implemented UI and I don’t care if it is on screen or not.