It's simple - you need to face-lift each car and gen to make it easier to sell. BMW goes back and forth between knobs and buttons for HVAC.
It's simple - you need to face-lift each car and gen to make it easier to sell. BMW goes back and forth between knobs and buttons for HVAC.
Think about it... as the car ages, shifters or knobs can break down. Even Teslas touch panel controls can break down. Replacing broken dash or stolen factory radios or whatever factory equipment can be expensive and painful. Point of allowing users to be able to easily swap out tablet to control car's various function is a good idea IMHO...., as long as car makers provide the right interface/adapters. Further, we really don't need to rely on the auto manufacturers to do these apps too. Plenty of developers/hobbyists can probably do the job cheaper and better. Just take a look a Ford's recent fiasco with their infotainment systems. Brought down their customer satisfaction level for their entire line up simply because they had a lousy infotainment system. Mazda also has great cars, but pretty lousy infotainment systems I think...
I really think automakers should simply focus on building better cars and leave the electronic stuffs to the experts. Plus, I'm sure it'll probably help you sell cars too! Imagine if you promise buyers the newest and latest iphone/ipad with vehicle purchase..., people will be lining up to buy your car!!!
We're not talking about using the owner's tablet just for infotainment, though. Those tablets in the cars control or interface to all kinds of things, seats, suspension, security, backup camera, automatic parallel parking. You can't just open up the API and have hobbyists working on that stuff.
Let the owner plug in their device of choice and get a more advanced media playback from that, but IMO you still need known quantities to deal with the major stuff. Whether via touchscreen or buttons/knobs/switches, there are some things that shouldn't be left to open source and unaffiliated consumer tech companies to take care of. As an option? Ok, but not as the only solution.
Get that weak shit off my track
Automakers can probably do better when contract these consumer tech companies rather than try to build these things themselves. Just as I'm sure each automaker doesn't make their own special airbags, tires, spark plug, etc. I can understand if they don't wish to share engine mapping data to others or something more proprietary. However, for controlling the A/C, seats, backup camera... or even parallel parking. Why do you think programmers outside of auto industry won't be able to handle them?
Ideally, I'd like to see less # of electrical switches on my dash or door as possible. Less chance of it breaking down on me..., only negative is that sometimes people make like the feel of buttons and knobs, especially when they're driving and don't wish to take their eyes off the road. I did notice how difficult it became to control my iphone when driving over bumpy roads..., but bigger screen/buttons should help.
Anyway, just my thought whenever I see cars with tablet looking screens on the dash. I really think they should just allow users to put in their own tablets. Cars like Model S also scares me... imagine one day the control console screen is busted... surely it'll be expensive to replace, and you'll have no means to control the car until it's fixed. Where as if you have a swappable tablet setup, you can just get another table or perhaps use your cellphone to be able to continue to function...
You said two different things there, though.
Car companies are most definitely already using third parties to design and source their touchscreens and the software behind them. They come up with requirements, look at hardware and UI proposals from potential suppliers vs internal goals, come to an agreement, lock down design and do a ton of testing before releasing the vehicle.
That is incredibly different from telling your customers to plug in their own tablet and giving them a link to iTunes to get the app.
We've had the touchscreens vs mechanical items discussion before, it's a matter of taste: having statically located, tactile controls is better for keeping your eyes on the road, but there's a lot of freedom of design and customization with touchscreens. A good combination of the two seems like the best option to me
I guess I was trying to say that unless an automaker is so bold and honestly believe they can do it better than Apple or Google, then why bother trying to do their own proprietary infotainment system from the ground up? Just as do you really need a proprietary spark plug for your engine? Your engine is really that special? Proprietary sized wheeled that can only fit your particular car and consequently you need special sized tires? I just don't get why they continue to try to reinvent the wheel and it's not like they are inventing better wheels that what's already in the market. It's obvious consumers today do find infotainment systems in cars important nowadays, I just think the automakers are approaching things the wrong way and making their lives more difficult trying to engineer stuffs when there are already stuffs available that's better. Further, lot of car makers are advertising that their systems can easily interface with iphones or android devices... hey, those devices are pretty powerful computers already. Money could be saved so that they don't have to develop their own hardware and just concentrate on the software.
Anyway, I really think a phone could perhaps replace the dash. Maybe a tablet can replace the entire center console controls and can even be used as a backup camera... or turn the dash/phone into a back up camera. We usually don't care for speed info while backing up... For those who still prefer the touch of knobs or switches, we can still have them on the steering wheel, right? Best of both worlds?
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; September 18th, 2014 at 11:56 AM.
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