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Comment by FussyZeus | Hacker News Reader

CarPlay is excellently done. The UI is consistent and sensible, and the devices usually respond quickly. However the problems start when the car companies have built their own UI around or over top of CarPlay, and those UIs are often slow to respond, often use resistive touch screens which are difficult to use, and the UI conventions in a Jeep, in a Ford, in a Cadillac might as well exist in different universes. There is no standardization, and therefore no way to get truly comfortable.

I've used CarPlay on several vehicles and it's not distracting at all, because I know exactly where everything is, and I can get to it and get what done I need to rapidly and with precision. The issues come when I have to use the rest of the system, which is a complete crapshoot in terms of where to find things like climate controls and adjustments to be made to the car.

And for God's sakes, dump those resistive touch screens in the trash.

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And for God's sakes, dump those resistive touch screens in the trash.

They are used not because of cost, but so that drivers with gloved hands can still operate them.

imagine driving this in the winter

https://di-uploads-pod1.dealerinspire.com/landroverwillowgro...

Even the buttons on the wheels are touch "buttons" not physical ones

And for their ability to survive extremes of temperature and humidity. Awful to use, but they do continue to operate.

But manual controls (with differently-shaped knobs) is a superior system.

Theres spy shots that the new S Class will be all touch screens. https://www.motor1.com/news/337416/2021-mercedes-s-class-spi...

What the hell are people thinking?

The range rovers, Porsche's, and Audis are going that way too.

How can this be remotely positive?

Its like these cars are made for leasing, ONLY. They can't be thinking about long term reliability.

Automakers seem to be in love with leases and they're pushing them hard, so I can see them prioritizing features that makes leasing more attractive.

1. I think Tesla-style control-via-screen-only is akin to the 'Open Office' -- that is, a stupid trend that will be overcome, eventually, by the saner among us.

1A. Folk who are 'visual first' probably like Control-via-screen-only. I'm a 'tactile' and 'auditory' first guy. I have very good spacial muscle memory. I can close my eyes and dead-on any control in my trusty '95 LS-400.

1B. I would prefer even the common displays (e.g. speed) be given to me via morse code when I push a steering wheel button. At 50 WPM it would take as long as a glance, with no eyes-off-the-road. But I'm weird.

2. Yesterday I turned in after a 3.5 yr lease a VW eGolf. I asked them how well they were selling the vehicles that have come off lease. Guy said they just 'park them in the back' and he's never seen one of them sold. I don't know what they do with them, but I definitely concur that there seems to be a push toward leasing.

2A. The prices for the 2019 eGolfs with more features than the 2016 SEL version were about 10% less. And I thought the 2016 prices were pretty good. I don't understand.

The subscription is coming. Direct from manufacturers side stepping the dealerships. Especially in the era when not owning is perceived as wealthy.

Leases are a giant unsustainable bubble.

There has been some speculation that automakers are going to be left holding the bag but it seems they don't share that fear.

>They can't be thinking about long term reliability.

That's been like that for a long time already even if you buy it, once it's out of warranty it's your problem not the manufactures's anymore, they are following the same path of consumer electronics, since they need to come with a new product every year and try to impress the public the only way is making them as flashy and sci-fi-esque as possible even if is unusable or it will last 2 years.

The fully leveraged life of a luxury car:

1. Lease vehicle to some rich person for the first 3 years who will have few to no problems and return it to the dealership for the next new model once the lease ends.

2. Dump it on some middle-class person making an aspirational purchase as "certified pre-owned". The car starts to break down pretty much the day after it turns 3 since that's how it was designed. The owner will be forced to pay extreme repair bills if they go to the dealership or just live with things continuing to break as the car ages.

3. Once the car hits 6-8 years old it will get resold to the super shady "imports" used car dealership down the road from the original dealership who will then sell it to some poor person making an aspirational purchase on a 9 year loan with exorbitant interest. They will be forced by the high payments to either drive it into the ground or get it repossessed. If repossessed, repeat step 3.

I had a rental with CarPlay a few months back. First time I've had one of the infotainment systems that wasn't a massive exercise in frustration to use. It also wasn't all hot to trot to download various contacts, etc. from my phone like most of them seem to be.

That’s because CarPlay is essentially a second screen for your phone. Everything runs on the phone, which already has your contacts.

> And for God's sakes, dump those resistive touch screens in the trash.

Can I please make a case for the opposite being true? Capacitive touch is a million times better for a tablet, but resistive touch screens are far better suited to touch input while driving because they respond to pressure, not mere presence. This means it's far less distracting to use.

_________Capacitive touch_________

1. Look at screen

2. Observe what you want to press

3. Move your finger to a space in mid-air in front of where it needs to be

4. Refine your finger's alignment

5. Touch the screen

6. Look away

__________Resistive touch__________

1. Glance momentarily to observe what you want to press; return eyes to road

2. Move finger where it needs to be, using friction between finger and screen to hold it in place

3. Glance momentarily at your finger's position; return eyes to road

4. Refine your finger's alignment

5. Push your finger at the screen

Neither capacitive nor resistive touch screens have an acceptable use in a moving car. Drivers should use the rotary knob and voice controls instead.

Rotary knobs are worse because you need to look at the screen to watch the highlighted element jump around until it lands on whatever it is you want selected.

To be fair, they're the least bad of all the centre-console input devices. And they're an acceptable option if the screen is placed outside comfortable reach of the seated driver.

But they're still inferior to a well-positioned capacitive touch screen.

remember the rule: hardware companies suck at software.

surprisingly, standard car audio systems are almost universally better than aftermarket ones. And if you've ever disconnected your car battery and come back to a factory reset aftermarket audio system, in demo mode, that goes x100.

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