A touchscreen infotainment system is now standard equipment in the majority of new cars being sold. Even if you buy a small city car, chances are it will have a touch-sensitive display that eliminates many physical controls and concentrates functions in one place.
But are touchscreens in automobiles a good idea? Importantly, it is not an ideal solution in terms of safety. While a touchscreen helps to declutter the centre console and provides a trendy minimalist look, it has some significant disadvantages that should not be overlooked despite the immersive gameplay it gives to games at pokie online. Let’s take a look at how touchscreens in cars can be dangerous, as well as other disadvantages, and why physical controls are the better option.
There’s a Greater Chance of Distraction
When you have a large and futuristic car display in the middle of your dashboard, anything that appears on that screen has the potential to distract you. You might be tempted to take your gaze away from the road to see what message your car is sending you.
Your car could be linked to your phone and alert you when you receive a text message or an email. Even if your phone isn’t connected, the car may display its notifications, such as a reminder that an oil change is due or that you’ve run out of windshield washer fluid.
These distractions only serve to divert your attention away from what is most important: driving safely.
It Takes Your Eyes Off the Road
Many argue that physical controls outperform touchscreens due to muscle memory. Spend some time in any car with buttons, switches, and knobs and you’ll quickly learn where all the important functions are without having to look. This isn’t the case for touchscreens especially when gaming at https://www.bestusaonlinecasinos.com/casino-games/ as it’s almost impossible to remember certain position as they can change any time.
This means you can operate the media system, climate controls, and other features primarily by touch, without taking your eyes off the road. Even if you have to look down to find the physical controls, it only takes a second—you don’t have to keep looking while, say, adjusting the fan speed with a rotary knob.
In contrast, a touchscreen requires your full attention; otherwise, you have no idea what you’re tapping.
Functions Are Buried In Menus
Controlling critical car functions via a touchscreen can be difficult, but it’s even more difficult when everything is buried in menus, which exasperates the issues mentioned above.
BMW’s iDrive 8 is an especially egregious example. It lacks a dedicated climate panel that remains in place as you navigate through the menus. If you want to change anything other than the temperature, such as fan speed or airflow direction, you must touch the screen at least twice—once to open the climate menu and again to make the necessary adjustment. BMW also removed the steering-wheel controls for adjusting the adaptive cruise control follow distance. This function has also been relocated to a menu that is difficult to access.
BMW (and other premium automakers) will argue that these vehicles also have advanced voice commands, making most functions accessible that way. Many of these vehicles can also automatically adjust temperature and enable functions based on their surroundings. This is intended to reduce the need for touchscreen interaction, but for many people, buttons are still the preferred method of interacting with a car.
They Run on Old Tech and Are Unresponsive
Because car manufacturers are not technology companies, they usually outsource the development of infotainment screens to a third party. However, these partners are frequently chosen based on price rather than technical ability. This results in a less expensive screen, which reduces production costs but sacrifices graphical quality and response time.
Even in today’s more expensive cars, touchscreen graphics quality, processing power, touch accuracy, and overall fluidity are inferior to that of the best smartphones and tablets.
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