> a lot of times they just give you a bigger touch screen, as though it were a status symbol for some people.
The big screen in the Tesla is very useful for the map. In the olden times, I used pretty large map books, and the screens are about the page size of those books. I use it to search for locations, get a list of results, select one, choose a navigation path, etc. When the car isn't moving, it is quite useful as a configurator UI for the various settings available in the vehicle itself. I certainly wouldn't want those pages of options to be all represented as buttons.
> As I think most people know, the main reason they use touch screens is because it's cheaper to develop than physical buttons: you don't have to redesign the dashboard and wiring in order to change the UI.
It allows for new features to be delivered quite easily in an existing car as the software improves. It also allows for more buttons as cars have more capabilities than could fit on a single physical panel.
All that said, I vastly prefer physical buttons, and mostly use the buttons on the steering wheel to control things when driving. I think a better design for the instrument panel would feature small screens on physical buttons, so that you could program the switches or dials to control different functions and display their purpose. This could allow for the most frequently adjusted features to retain physical controls.
If we take the steering wheel as an inspiration, that small set of physical controls can be applied to many functions, but it uses the screen behind the steering wheel as a mode indicator.
The other modality is voice, but it suffers from a bit of the command line problem, in that it isn't immediately obvious to the user what commands are allowed.
The steering wheel should be the primary interface for the driver. Controls volume, cruise control, etc. The only dashboard options are A/C, which you could technically get on a steering wheel too. The hazard lights could be a single button as well, doesn't need to be on the dashboard either.
Otherwise everything else can be on a big touch screen. You could also have an Alexa style system for when you're driving and can't look ("Alexa, turn down the "AC").
How about a touch screen with additional buttons to the side of it, like those you see in fighter cockpits? Buttons are laid out on the screen to match their physical counterparts. In a pinch you can use the physical button and get tactile feedback. Stationary you can mess around with the touch screen.
The big screen in the Tesla is very useful for the map. In the olden times, I used pretty large map books, and the screens are about the page size of those books. I use it to search for locations, get a list of results, select one, choose a navigation path, etc. When the car isn't moving, it is quite useful as a configurator UI for the various settings available in the vehicle itself. I certainly wouldn't want those pages of options to be all represented as buttons.
> As I think most people know, the main reason they use touch screens is because it's cheaper to develop than physical buttons: you don't have to redesign the dashboard and wiring in order to change the UI.
It allows for new features to be delivered quite easily in an existing car as the software improves. It also allows for more buttons as cars have more capabilities than could fit on a single physical panel.
All that said, I vastly prefer physical buttons, and mostly use the buttons on the steering wheel to control things when driving. I think a better design for the instrument panel would feature small screens on physical buttons, so that you could program the switches or dials to control different functions and display their purpose. This could allow for the most frequently adjusted features to retain physical controls.
If we take the steering wheel as an inspiration, that small set of physical controls can be applied to many functions, but it uses the screen behind the steering wheel as a mode indicator.
The other modality is voice, but it suffers from a bit of the command line problem, in that it isn't immediately obvious to the user what commands are allowed.