“If the car crashes while Drive Pilot is operating, that's Mercedes' problem, not yours.”
As long-time grey-beard MB owner, and, honestly, it's not just them, the sheer amount of noise and distractions in modern cockpits is absurd now.
By this I mean, reversing sensors, slow-forward speed sensors, massive LCD screen (which may or may not be touchscreen) positioned at windscreen level, the right-hand "-ometer" that's configurable, a dial, a trackpad, a steering wheel with at least four buttons, and two 'joystick' things. And 3 instrument clusters on stalks. Heating buttons, fan, windscreen control, radio button, all down the bottom of the centre console where I have to take my eyes off the road.
It's a shit show.
My point? My current MB has never been so distracting to drive where I have to take my eyes off the road for a second to hit the demister button. Versus a car from the 1990s - no centre-LCD so the heater/demister buttons were in your peripheral vision. No touchscreen - regular buttons with tactile feed back that even had "braille like" raised paint so you could figure out where your hand was without taking your eye off the road. Don't even get me started on trying to use the radio or equaliser.
I hope, I really do, that autonomous driving works and reduces crashes, but I'm astonished there hasn't been a noticeable uptick in crashes based on just what I've written.
From the article, this is yet another button on the steering wheel. Probably because they've run out of dashboard space for all the other buttons. Auto-stop, car alarm off, assistance, sport mode, are at least 4 buttons I never use.
As long-time grey-beard MB owner, and, honestly, it's not just them, the sheer amount of noise and distractions in modern cockpits is absurd now.
By this I mean, reversing sensors, slow-forward speed sensors, massive LCD screen (which may or may not be touchscreen) positioned at windscreen level, the right-hand "-ometer" that's configurable, a dial, a trackpad, a steering wheel with at least four buttons, and two 'joystick' things. And 3 instrument clusters on stalks. Heating buttons, fan, windscreen control, radio button, all down the bottom of the centre console where I have to take my eyes off the road.
It's a shit show.
My point? My current MB has never been so distracting to drive where I have to take my eyes off the road for a second to hit the demister button. Versus a car from the 1990s - no centre-LCD so the heater/demister buttons were in your peripheral vision. No touchscreen - regular buttons with tactile feed back that even had "braille like" raised paint so you could figure out where your hand was without taking your eye off the road. Don't even get me started on trying to use the radio or equaliser.
I hope, I really do, that autonomous driving works and reduces crashes, but I'm astonished there hasn't been a noticeable uptick in crashes based on just what I've written.
From the article, this is yet another button on the steering wheel. Probably because they've run out of dashboard space for all the other buttons. Auto-stop, car alarm off, assistance, sport mode, are at least 4 buttons I never use.
Where's the Jony Ive for car cockpits?