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Comment by 542458 | Hacker News Reader

Two notes - 1, this applies only to a pair of base models in the Korean market (for now) and 2, the info is still there, but it's on the central screen and not on the instrument cluster behind the wheel.

You can see it in the article's hero image: https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/2fa717dc-2eea-4e...

The thin screen is not always present, but the larger screen shows the same info upper-left.

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As a driver I would be so freaking confused staring at the empty space behind the wheel. Maybe it is just my Gen X experience of learning to drive on a stick and paying attention to tachometer and coolant temp.

I've made the switch before. At first yes of course you do stare at the dash in front of the wheel for a sec before remembering it's to the side but I didn't find the learning curve too difficult. After a month or so it's second nature.

> Maybe it is just my Gen X experience of learning to drive on a stick and paying attention to tachometer and coolant temp.

You and your fancy cars... my 1981 Vanagon doesn't have fancy stuff like a tach or a trip meter or a temperature gauge. Who needs a tach when you have ears, and anyway there's a colored dot on the speedometer at the top end of first, two dots at the top end of 2nd and three dots at the top end of 3rd. If you go over, the rev limiter will let you know.

While working on the speedometer, I did drive it a bit with no cluster installed, and it was weird, but I could get used to a bit more visibility, although the extra visibility was obstructed by the steering wheel.

I bet you had a separate indicator for left turn signal and right turn signal, but do you really need that? --- a single indicator if any turn signal is active is plenty.

I drove a Toyota Yaris for about 10 years and those cars had the instrument cluster in the middle of the dash. It didn’t take long to get used to and one of the unexpected benefits was how much better forward visibility was. The Yaris wasn’t a big car but honestly the drivers position felt a lot more open and less cramped with that layout, and realistically the center of the dash is almost always empty space anyway. I personally liked it a lot. Not sure the “no instrument cluster + massive iPad in the center” is going to be quite the same feel or work as well, but everything being in the center feels way less weird than you would think.

I still don't understand how these massive touchscreen displays are allowed in vehicles.

I had to rent a van that had everything "integrated" in its display. Absolutely atrocious software, latency and responsiveness for standard things such as temp and fan speed.

Also withholding this "extra" means you have to take your eyes off the road and look down to the right/left to make sure you're doing the right speed. Sounds a bit over the top, but I wonder if these designers think about the fact they might actually be the ones responsible for people dying in crashes.

Wow, I was hoping this was an option to not have the stupid center-mounted huge screen. I'd pay extra for analog controls.

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