Friday, February 20, 2015 10:03:38 PM
Automakers simplify controls by taking cues from tablets
By John R. Quain
New York Times News Service
A driver uses Ford's Sync 3 in-dashboard system, which features simpler controls and a tabletlike touch screen. (New York Times News Service via Ford)
Reaching an apogee of confusion, car dashboards have become a bewildering array of screens, buttons and knobs to control functions such as the radio, ventilation, advanced safety systems and Internet services.
Looking to simplify such cockpitlike controls, automakers are starting to take design cues from a familiar household gadget, the tablet computer.
Ford, for example, announced recently that it would adopt a new touch-screen, tabletlike system to replace its much-criticized connected-car designs. It's a reflection of the radical transformation of vehicles as automakers wrestle with how to integrate smartphones and online services into cars without increasing driver distraction — and frustration.
The 2-second rule
Voluntary guidelines for automakers, set in 2013 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, recommend that any single technology interaction not take drivers more than two seconds. In that time, a car can travel 176 feet at 60 mph.
"We looked at what aspects of tablets made sense," says Don Butler, Ford's executive director for connected vehicles and services, referring to the Sync 3, the next generation of the company's in-dash system, which will appear in models this year. Ford plans to offer Sync 3 across its entire line in the United States by the end of 2016.
Ford took its inspiration for Sync 3 from Apple's iPad. Based on an 8-inch touch screen, Sync 3 uses fewer and larger icons that can be recognized at a glance. The touch-sensitive areas are bigger, and drivers can use more than one finger at a time, allowing for gestures such as pinching to zoom in on a map. A bar along the bottom of the screen always displays primary functions such as climate control, navigation and audio.
Butler says that Ford was sensitive to the problem of driver distraction. So some gestures common in tablets and smartphones are not migrating to the dashboard.
"When you scroll through a list, the list continues to roll normally on a tablet, but that inertial spinning is not ideal for a vehicle environment," Butler says. That move will not be in Sync 3 so that drivers do not become mesmerized by spinning playlists, for example.
One of the most anticipated new touch-screen systems is coming from Volvo, which has made safety one of its biggest selling points. The centerpiece of its new XC90 SUV, coming early this year, is a new connected-car system that has a 9-inch touch screen.
"Everybody's used to touch screens," says Thomas Müller, Volvo's vice president for electrical and electronic systems engineering. "You see them in modern kitchens; simple laptops come with a touch screen. It's become mainstream and a normal thing to do."
There will be only eight buttons in the Volvo system, including what the industry calls hard controls for front and rear defrost, skip track, pause and a mandatory hazard warning light switch. And, yes, there is a large knob to control the volume.
One of the most positively reviewed connected-car systems of the last year has been the Chrysler brand's Uconnect, a QNX-based system. It uses an 8.4-inch touch screen in its top-of-the-line system. The graphics look less like a tablet, but the controls are simple and unembellished.
Tesla Model S owners can view a reverse camera angle of the car while driving forward, as well as view other information, all of it illuminated on a vast 17-inch touch screen. "The bigger size is better because it means the buttons can be larger," says Todd Lockwood, a Model S owner in Vermont.
"When customers see a large screen, they think it provides an opportunity to touch and control," says Joni Christensen, Chrysler's head of global marketing, Uconnect systems and services.
But the Uconnect system also has physical controls for heat and air-conditioning, and voice recognition that can switch radio stations or get a weather report.
"It helps people adapt to the new technology at their own pace," Christensen says.
By John R. Quain
New York Times News Service
A driver uses Ford's Sync 3 in-dashboard system, which features simpler controls and a tabletlike touch screen. (New York Times News Service via Ford)
Reaching an apogee of confusion, car dashboards have become a bewildering array of screens, buttons and knobs to control functions such as the radio, ventilation, advanced safety systems and Internet services.
Looking to simplify such cockpitlike controls, automakers are starting to take design cues from a familiar household gadget, the tablet computer.
Ford, for example, announced recently that it would adopt a new touch-screen, tabletlike system to replace its much-criticized connected-car designs. It's a reflection of the radical transformation of vehicles as automakers wrestle with how to integrate smartphones and online services into cars without increasing driver distraction — and frustration.
The 2-second rule
Voluntary guidelines for automakers, set in 2013 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, recommend that any single technology interaction not take drivers more than two seconds. In that time, a car can travel 176 feet at 60 mph.
"We looked at what aspects of tablets made sense," says Don Butler, Ford's executive director for connected vehicles and services, referring to the Sync 3, the next generation of the company's in-dash system, which will appear in models this year. Ford plans to offer Sync 3 across its entire line in the United States by the end of 2016.
Ford took its inspiration for Sync 3 from Apple's iPad. Based on an 8-inch touch screen, Sync 3 uses fewer and larger icons that can be recognized at a glance. The touch-sensitive areas are bigger, and drivers can use more than one finger at a time, allowing for gestures such as pinching to zoom in on a map. A bar along the bottom of the screen always displays primary functions such as climate control, navigation and audio.
Butler says that Ford was sensitive to the problem of driver distraction. So some gestures common in tablets and smartphones are not migrating to the dashboard.
"When you scroll through a list, the list continues to roll normally on a tablet, but that inertial spinning is not ideal for a vehicle environment," Butler says. That move will not be in Sync 3 so that drivers do not become mesmerized by spinning playlists, for example.
One of the most anticipated new touch-screen systems is coming from Volvo, which has made safety one of its biggest selling points. The centerpiece of its new XC90 SUV, coming early this year, is a new connected-car system that has a 9-inch touch screen.
"Everybody's used to touch screens," says Thomas Müller, Volvo's vice president for electrical and electronic systems engineering. "You see them in modern kitchens; simple laptops come with a touch screen. It's become mainstream and a normal thing to do."
There will be only eight buttons in the Volvo system, including what the industry calls hard controls for front and rear defrost, skip track, pause and a mandatory hazard warning light switch. And, yes, there is a large knob to control the volume.
One of the most positively reviewed connected-car systems of the last year has been the Chrysler brand's Uconnect, a QNX-based system. It uses an 8.4-inch touch screen in its top-of-the-line system. The graphics look less like a tablet, but the controls are simple and unembellished.
Tesla Model S owners can view a reverse camera angle of the car while driving forward, as well as view other information, all of it illuminated on a vast 17-inch touch screen. "The bigger size is better because it means the buttons can be larger," says Todd Lockwood, a Model S owner in Vermont.
"When customers see a large screen, they think it provides an opportunity to touch and control," says Joni Christensen, Chrysler's head of global marketing, Uconnect systems and services.
But the Uconnect system also has physical controls for heat and air-conditioning, and voice recognition that can switch radio stations or get a weather report.
"It helps people adapt to the new technology at their own pace," Christensen says.
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