Car Companies Are Consumer Tech Companies, But They Don't Realize It
Has anyone at VW ever used a phone?
EVs are an exciting technology, because they will dramatically reduce CO2 emissions (even if they run on dirty grids, which will green over time — thanks to the higher thermal efficiency of grid scale power plants), improve air quality — even taking tire dust into account (see Hannah Ritchie’s excellent article), and reduce urban noise
pollution, which is a major quality of life impediment in cities.
While here at the Rational Technologist we wholeheartedly support efforts for less car-centric cities, more public transit, and perhaps more importantly walking and cycling (in the spirit of someone like Not Just Bikes), we are well aware that many-tired vehicles will still be needed for all manner of industries and for some people’s personal use.
Unfortunately, many traditionally reputable car companies seem to be putting the “Infinite Monkey Theorem” to the test in car design and product planning. Toyota — formerly a leader in “green” vehicles with their well-known hybrids — has dropped to the back to the pack with their “EVs don’t really matter” strategy, which includes producing a mediocre SUV that has wheels that fall off, and thanks to smart strategic thinking and battery supply management, tons of widely available plug-in hybrids with small batteries... wait, what?
But, perhaps the worst offender, or perhaps I should say offence in the EV revolution are the many automakers that have decided to go completely over-the-top with car infotainment systems. This change can mostly be blamed on Tesla, but they get credit for also starting the modern EV industry, and extra credit for letting you actually use the giant screen in your car to do things like watch videos while you charge up on a road-trip (it is astounding how few other automakers let you do this, despite putting huge screens on their dashes). Unfortunately though, Tesla loses its credit again, because on the Model 3 you don’t have a speedometer behind the wheel (and yes, there are “traditional” cars that were like this, which was also bad then), and also forces you to do stupid things like using the touch screen to open the glove box.
Now, while Tesla’s screen antics are stupid (and also quite possibly dangerous), other automakers are making horrible human interface design decisions even without the pretence of serious innovation.
My favourite example of this are the many automakers who are putting capacitive buttons all over their vehicle interiors. If you’re not familiar, capacitive touch buttons use the same technology as modern touchscreens to turn small surface icons on central consoles and sometimes even steering wheels into “virtual” buttons. This technology is nothing new, and I can remember it all the way back on gadgets like my original Playstation 3, but this means I can also remember why it was a bad idea all the way back in 2007! Simply grazing the capacitive button meant setting it off, and if the speaker was not working the lack of any feedback meant you were sometimes unsure if you had actually “actuated” it. Now, this technology can maybe be defended for applications like smartphones — Android ones used to use it for things like the back button before “soft” buttons came into vogue — because typically with a smartphone, you are engaging with the UI while looking at it. But in a car this is a terrible idea, because the last thing you want to do while driving is to take your eyes off the road to futz around looking for the heated seat control, and VW makes this even worse because they use terrible touch strips for air-con controls.
This technology probably exists in such contexts for two reasons. The obvious one is cost cutting: capacitive buttons are cheap, and also probably simpler and lighter than traditional buttons, especially decently high-quality ones that can be pressed thousands upon thousands of times. But the other reason is probably because some numbskull thinks this is what the “future” should look like — modern technology that is… worse. The correct solution for any control that you could be expected to use while a vehicle is in motion is a distinctive and easy-to-actuate mechanical button, bonus points if it has nice tactility.
All of this is to say, I think carmakers are royally screwing up the “transition” to electric cars. While it’s completely reasonable to move to modern manufacturing techniques like “gigacasting” and to implement modern digital technology and software for infotainment systems, people surely first and foremost want an easy-to-use car that they can drive without constantly looking down and over at dumb controls and an obtuse user interface. Cars can become consumer electronics products, but if they are going to, they need to be designed like a good consumer electronics product. EVs should be like good cars, just electric!