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Comment by cnasc | Hacker News Reader

Article says she had a Tesla Model X. Looking online, it appears you shift by either using the touchscreen or some small capacitive buttons that are probably easy to mispress[1].

This is a radical opinion, but that’s the sort of UX malfeasance that should be punished by drawing and quartering even if it doesn’t result in a customer’s death.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7dCo3EngU0E

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It's not a "button", it's a slider. It's not easy to "mispress". And I don't think that slider is present on older Model X, so she probably pushed the stalk up to go into reverse. Which IMO is less confusing than most automatic shifter levers, where you have to remember than pulling it _back_ makes the car go forward.

https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modelx/en_us/GUID-E9B387D...

Tesla calls them “buttons” that you “press”

Doesn’t matter - you can go and check a cybertruck review or something to see what that looks like. It’s no easier to screw up than a traditional shifter of any kind. I wonder what the toxicology report will say. I could see how someone under influence would not recognize in which direction they’re moving

Oh wow. I legit dislike touch screens for safety critical work.

Shifting ought to be something mechanical that you can’t mistake. It gets imprinted on muscle memory.

My personal rule is I should be able to let my fingers do the seeing. Without looking change turn signals, change gears, adjust volume, AC etc.

Conventional shifters don't rely on directional analogies at all. To go into reverse, you move the stick to the 'R', to drive you move it to 'D'. A directional analogy, while simpler on paper, is much easier to mess up if you forget it.

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