Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

[Morris Minor]

Reading between the lines here, but the breakthrough discovery that manufacturers have made, after spending many years and billions of dollars on research, is our fingers have this thing that they have named the Sense of Touch™.
This allows drivers to know, with very little distraction from the task of driving, that their fingers are on these things called "buttons" (sorry for the technical jargon) that can be used for controlling functions in their cars.

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Japanese firm reckons new tech is "difficult to operate intuitively" for functions such as air conditioning, moving against growing industry norm
Honda has done what no other car maker is doing, and returned to analogue controls for some functions on the new Honda Jazz.


While most manufacturers are moving to touchscreen controls, identifying smartphone use as their inspiration - most recently seen in Audi's latest A3 - Honda has decided to reintroduce heating and air conditioning controls via a dial rather than touchscreen, as in the previous-generation Jazz.

More... https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-geneva-motor-show/honda-bucks-industry-trend-removing-touchscreen-controls

[shp4man]

Distracted driving via touchscreen, any touchscreen.

[FoMoJo]

The only use of a touch screen I prefer is for navigation.  It's just easier to type in the address.  All other controls should be removed.

[MX793]

The only use of a touch screen I prefer is for navigation.  It's just easier to type in the address.  All other controls should be removed.

I prefer a physical scroll and click device, akin to that on early iPods.

[GoCougs]

Thing is Japanese infotainment efforts have been absolutely terrible - the worst of the industry, esp. Lexus.

Apple and Android implementations weren't the panacea there were thought to be. Mobile OS is designed to hook you - not good in a car, and it hasn't gone too well either.

Gesture and voice control are the pet rocks of infotainment.

Audi's new (2020+) mid level (A4, A5, Q5) implementation is the best I've seen. Hard buttons for HVAC, radio, seat heaters, etc, but touchscreen for nav, car setup, etc. It's still not great though.

Tesla's approach - simple steering wheel controls + mostly touchscreen and make stuff as automatic/heuristic as possible, with no possibility of mobile OS - might work well. Dunno. Worth a shot.

[r0tor]

Mazda ditched touchscreens as well I thought. 

I was proud Alfa resisted touchscreens but looks like they added them (albeit in addition to the control knob) for 2020 due to customer complaints... But they still have all functionality outside of the radio with physical buttons at least.

Android Auto and Carplay need to die.  If fingering your phone is illegal, why is fingering a screen with a replicated mobile OS alright?

[Laconian]

Mazda ditched touchscreens as well I thought. 

Yup, starting with the latest Mazda 3.

[CALL_911]

If they do it right, like iDrive, the knob is IMO the best way to do things. My car's iDrive is from before they added touchscreen capability and it's such a pleasure to use. Touchscreens suck in a moving object.

[MrH]

Mazda's is probably my favorite mainstream system now. The new 3's is really really good. It sits really high up in your line of sight too.

[cawimmer430]

I like touchscreens. But they have to be properly done, and some essential controls should be classic button-to-touch/operate.

In today's world it should be no problem with advanced and responsive touch screens and voice control. I like the setup in my A-Class for example where I can control things via 1) touchscreen 2) mouse pad or 3) voice control. Things I use a lot and want quick access to like the A/C controls are still physical buttons or voice control. I can't speak for other cars but the general layout and quick-response of MBUX works well for me. I don't find it distracting at all, especially since I know where everything is and can blindly operate it IF I decide to engage some functions and their sub-functions via touchscreen.

[2o6]

This is such a clickbait-y article; the only thing they removed is the ability to adjust climate control from the screen. The audio and other system settings are the same.


Android auto and Apple Carplay are generally fine for most users, and I'd argue that mazda removing touch functionality was not a smart move, since Carplay and Android auto were designed to be a touch interface.


In my experience, Hyundai and GM (not Cadillac) have some of the best infotainment out there - it's slick looking, but simple. Also the units themselves are very snappy, so there's no lagging from inputs.


Ford's has always been convoluted and too complicated. Honda's is functional, but ugly. I've never liked Mazda's either - it always felt like something that looked good in a sketch but performed too slow in real life. Unconnect is ok enough I guess.


All of these manufacturers need to take a UI/UX class. The objective to distinguish information quickly on the move should be the goal. Too many menus, too many functions, or too many typefaces could ruin that.


I don't think touchscreen infotainment is a problem, I think it's a great way to add functionality to the driving experience. I fail to see how changing the track on a touchscreen head unit is anything different from using the "seek" button on your regular radio.

[AutobahnSHO]

Kind of agree, but I can skip tracks without looking. I know where the button is and what it Feels like. Same with volume, wipers, fan, temp, radio presets, radio power, phone pickup/hangup (JVC deck) and other stuff.

[r0tor]

The best infotainment is the one that disappears from the driver

[Laconian]

The best infotainment is the one that disappears from the driver

I wish cars had the ability to turn off all but the most essential instrument lights at night. That would make for nice night driving atmosphere.

[Soup DeVille]

I wish cars had the ability to turn off all but the most essential instrument lights at night. That would make for nice night driving atmosphere.

Several do. Even the Dodge does, but it was a couple menus deep.

[MX793]

I wish cars had the ability to turn off all but the most essential instrument lights at night. That would make for nice night driving atmosphere.

Didn't Saab used to have a function for that?

[CaminoRacer]

I wish cars had the ability to turn off all but the most essential instrument lights at night. That would make for nice night driving atmosphere.

Bolts can turn off the infotainment screen. But just about anything will turn it back on again. Kinda annoying that you can't tell it turn off and stay off until you push the on/off button again.

[giant_mtb]

Didn't Saab used to have a function for that?

Yep.

[mzziaz]

Didn't Saab used to have a function for that?

Yes. Nightvision. Good feature.

[Morris Minor]

Yep.

I love that. I wonder if it would stop people inferring from illuminated dash instruments that their headlights must be on.


Nah probably not.

[Laconian]

Wow. Why didn't that catch on? That must be a sublime experience.

[CALL_911]

Wow. Why didn't that catch on? That must be a sublime experience.

It was. I loved that feature

[giant_mtb]

In my A4, I could turn the infotaiment screen off. If you gave an input via the physical controls (HVAC, etc) the screen would pop on to give you a visual of the changes, but would then turn off a few seconds after any input was received. It was nice for long drives at night. And even now, I find myself dimming the dash lights on my ancient 2005 Tacoma on long night drives because it just makes forward visibility that much better.

[AutobahnSHO]

Yup. My wife cranks it up whenever she drives though.

[WookieOnRitalin]

Yep.

I miss my Saab. 

[Submariner]

The 9-3 with the turbo and AWD is an appealing car to this day.

[cawimmer430]

Best and least-distracting infotainment systems. BMW and Mercedes-Benz (MBUX) in 1st and 2nd place respectively. I can attest that MBUX is awesome, it does not take long to get used to it. 





Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2020/04/infotainment-tech-study-finds-least-and-most-distracting-systems/

[Speed_Racer]

The 9-3 with the turbo and AWD is an appealing car to this day.

There was a guy in my previous neighborhood who had a 9-3 TurboX combi that sounded really mean every time he passed by. Cool car for sure!

[veeman]

Never ridden in a Saab but they did look very good.  Never read a multicar comparo from an American automag in which a Saab was included and didn't finish near the bottom of rankings.  It was always - hey this is a great car but turbo lag, turbo affect on the steering at full throttle, and expensive.  Then GM acquired it, did a bunch of cost cutting by sharing platforms etc.  There was this Saab WRX thing and Saab Trailblazer thing, and ...  that was the last agonal breaths of a dying company.