The touchscreen is very sexy, but I do have concerns about the dearth of physical controls. I could be totally wrong and find a touchscreen environment to be much better than what we've all been used to in car our entire lives, but if not, then the screen could present another driver distraction (just what our roads need) if drivers have to look down for every function they want to change. I can adjust my Mercedes radio, HVAC, cruise control, and other important functions without taking my eyes off the road. When presented with a new car, muscle memory is quickly learned by a driver and the hand can reach and grab or touch certain controls intuitively. I know when I have to rent a car I feel tentative for a while because I have to look for controls that are not someplace my brain has memorized. Eventually, I learn my way around and can find things without looking, once I know roughly where they are and how they feel. That said, I wouldn't want to spoil the design of the Tesla dash with a lot of physical controls, but I wouldn't mind a few key functions being controlled by discrete knobs, buttons, switches or joysticks that I could handle without looking. Maybe "soft controls" which could be assigned by the driver, or would change with whatever mode you had selected on the screen like radio, nav, HVAC and so on. I could imagine something on the order of the kind of controls commonly found on TV remotes with 4-way arrows and an OK button in the middle. A lot can be done in a little space with well designed controllers, especially if their functions could be varied. Put 3 or 4 of them on the front or back of the steering wheel or on the dash, somewhere within arms reach and it could mean a lot less looking and easier button pushing.
Is it just me, or do others share this concern?
Model S res. #1712
Is it just me, or do others share this concern?
Model S res. #1712