[quakenul]

> As a User Experience Professional, I was never able to grasp the true user's need for touch screens in cars

The flexibility to benefit from rapid product iteration. If you think of cars as mostly software products that receive updates over the air, a flexible interface makes a lot more sense (even though I agree that it makes for a pretty bad user interface).

[JMTQp8lwXL]

If we extend this idea, why not do it for airplanes? It seems like a bad idea to be changing the layout of mission-critical systems. I'm sure it'd wreak havoc if the cockpit of a 787 was all touch screens, with UI changes pushed at the whim of developers.

I drive a car with analog controls. The buttons for controlling the radio, hazard lights, the A/C, etc are all static. I wouldn't want it to change. It gets the job done; it doesn't need iteration, and messing with it would reduce safety. I don't have to look at the controls, because the buttons are of various shapes/sizes that I know. Tactile feedback is value in keeping eyes on the road.

[zubspace]

An A380 is already full of screens where touch input could be introduced. All major airplane manufacturers are definitely experimenting with touch screens in the cockpit [1]. I guess not for flight critical systems for different reasons, because of missing tactile feedback and limited usage during turbulent flights [2]. But maybe that's just a question of time...

[1] https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-aims-for-a... [2] https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/22729/why-are-t...

[Isinlor]

How about spacecraft with touchscreens: https://www.spacex.com/crew-dragon ?

Compare to the cockpit of Space Shuttle: https://i.redd.it/9mj5bcbnzsx21.jpg

[sircastor]

This has far more to do with customer expectations than it does with safety. It would be much harder to sell a car with a different kind of steering mechanism than a wheel. The wheel is a leftover design element. Just because it's what we have doesn't mean it's good.

[TylerE]

They are.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/cInTheAir-cAvionics-cMFDs-p1...

[Aser]

Have you seen the F-35 cockpit? It's just one giant touchscreen.

[dzhiurgis]

You drive car with pedals and steering wheel. Everything else that is ternary (music, climate, nav) is on touch screen.

So yes, you can have cabin light and temperature controls on touchscreen on an airplane.

[TeMPOraL]

> having a flexible interface makes a lot more sense

For business, not the user.

And honestly I expect the answer is simpler: this enables them to subcontract out the UI part and run it in parallel with the development of the rest of the car, because the UI can no longer affect anything else in the car design.

[afarrell]

Which allows them to have the UI for controlling the car be done by a team without strong communication links with the team designing the rest of the car's UX.

Is that a genuine benefit, or one that shows up more early in planning and who's downsides show up late?

[Angostura]

Because who know when the volume control might get iterated out of existence

[ReptileMan]

I prefer to think of cars as cars. A dock for a smartphone takes care of entertainment and for everything else discrete knobs switches and levers. Preferably clicking with a loud click.

[marapuru]

I agree on the flexibility part. Interesting thought. Although that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a touch screen. There are many non-functional buttons in my car right now, which might be wired but just don't perform an action. The car manufacturer could make it more easy to reprogram these.

You can see it a bit as a Playstation controller (or whatever platform you like), it has multiple programmable buttons. A car could basically have the same. A touch screen is not required.

[quakenul]

It gets tricky as soon as you need labels and/or more complicated visual feedback attached to "dumb" buttons.

The touchscreen is "lazy" in that it can defer thinking hard about your problem space and I can see why that alone would feel scary in a car.

On the other hand, there is only so much foresight you can have when you are innovating. Developing a Tesla might simply not be feasible without the flexibility a touchscreen gives you.