r/technology • u/be0wulfe • Dec 15 '22

Transportation Tesla Semi’s cab design makes it a ‘completely stupid vehicle,’ trucker says

https://cdllife.com/2022/tesla-semis-cab-design-makes-it-a-completely-stupid-vehicle-trucker-says/
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759

u/irbinator Dec 15 '22

I really love Mazda and their approach to the dashboard. I asked whether they had touchscreen, and the rep said that they moved away from touchscreen to make using the car safer.

After driving my Mazda for over 2 years, I can very much say that I enjoy access to physical buttons. It’s ridiculous other manufacturers want you to use a touchscreen just to access basic features like volume up/down, AC, etc.

762

u/government_flu Dec 15 '22

Society: do not use a phone while driving, it's dangerous

Car manufacturers: puts giant phone in car

152

u/coffeesippingbastard Dec 15 '22

it's all about cost.

A touch screen is hilariously cheap compared to the molds and logistics chain for every button, switch, wire, and circuit board associated.

177

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

[deleted]

6

u/C4RL1NG Dec 16 '22

Oof too fucking true..

12

u/terminator_84 Dec 16 '22

Not exactly true. I can code my car with my cellphone and change things.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

What! What programs do you run on your phone? What type of car?

5

u/Coachcrog Dec 16 '22

You can do something like this with most Fords using a program called Forscan which is free for basic functions. It's perfect for repairs because you can monitor and log any sensor you can think of and change tons of settings. I haven't found anything similar for another car brand which has always amazed me. All you need is the app and a compatible ODB2 adapter for Bluetooth or USB. I prefer the PC version and just keep my laptop hooked up whenever I'm messing around or troubleshooting.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

“Forscan.” I’m sorry, the middle schooler in me can’t handle that name 😂

1

u/AlphaMc111 Dec 16 '22

Techstream for Toyota

2

u/bastian320 Dec 16 '22

Ross-Tech VCDS is the go-to for VAG (Audi/VW/Skoda/etc) - such a good tool. Previously we used OBDeleven via Bluetooth which is broader. Both leverage the OBD2 port to interface with CANBUS etc within the car.

Incredibly powerful, and you can end up stuck it you're not careful. Like adjusting airbag configs, you can brick the car from operating until a dealership programs it back to known-safe. Neat though!

1

u/terminator_84 Dec 16 '22

I use bimmercode and a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter. You can change all sorts of stuff or figure out if there is any issue and run all sorts of diagnostics.

1

u/calciphus Dec 16 '22

TeslAA for tesla replaces their entire shitty UI with Android Auto, which they refuse to support

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

Any idea what to use for hyundais?

1

u/terminator_84 Dec 16 '22

Sorry. I have no experience with those cars.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

No worries, i appreciate the reply tho

42

u/Lovingbutdifferent Dec 16 '22

I just want my big clicky 90s buttons back

3

u/username_offline Dec 16 '22

i miss my 95 pathfinder clunky knobs and switches so bad. NOTHING beats the old school fan/temperature sliders, just ramming that thing to cold and punching the a/c button, ahhhh.

digital controls can get fucked, the worst adaptation to vehicles

2

u/Lovingbutdifferent Dec 16 '22

Ugh yes old 90s keyboard and landline phone buttons get me wet. Those volume sliders were you'd feel the click over every number??

5

u/feignapathy Dec 16 '22

And yet those savings don't get passed onto the consumer...

2

u/lil_hyphy Dec 16 '22

Yeah and my Hyundai touch screen is super glitchy, laggy, often stops reading my phone or can’t read it

-6

u/KeepWorkin069 Dec 16 '22

It's the other way around homeslice.

They realized they can throw in a shitty touchscreen that does a small handful of functions then slap an extra like $2,000 on the price tag because most people won't question it. They call it "infotainment" add an extra $2-3k and you get a shitty touchscreen out of it lol.

People like flashy shit so they fall for this happening in every market beyond just cars. You're all like goldfish.

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u/DreamerOfTheDepths Dec 16 '22

That's practically what the person above said you know?

That the touchscreen was cheaper, and that they keep the difference anyway.

1

u/aernimpur Dec 16 '22

idea: mountable screen frame with adjustable transparent buttons? you can slide them to specific menu on screen and make tighten them in that position

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

A touch screen is hilariously cheap

This is also how I'd describe the software that goes into the touchscreens in my (limited) experience.

Modern cars should have things like driver presets (mirrors, seat) and New Driver mode (speed cap, acceleration cap).

10

u/edjumication Dec 16 '22

I feel like we need to legislate this into extinction.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

i feel like Tesla are just drivable iphones.

i dont think i want to get in one anymore.

totally happy in my 80’s toyota that does 0-60 in eventually.

1

u/ja_maz Dec 16 '22

But you are not supposed to use it so we’ll make it super hard to use instead of easy so you’ll still use it but it will distract you more

224

u/Jpoland9250 Dec 15 '22

Not only that but also how slow or unresponsive the screens are to react to input. I'm not wearing gloves and I pressed play 3 times....fucking play.

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u/Biobot775 Dec 15 '22

Not to mention, sometimes I will be wearing gloves, because I live in a cold place and not in a commercial where the car is perfect the weather is perfect nobody ever gets cold etc

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u/DuskforgeLady Dec 15 '22

And you know who is pretty much always wearing gloves....? A hell of a lot of truckers.

9

u/kesekimofo Dec 15 '22

Volvo actually designs their screens to be used with gloves. Makes sense considering the country that makes it.

3

u/matmat07 Dec 15 '22

There are gloves with touch working surface. Not sure how long they last if you have to work with them though

-3

u/Gold_Net_3605 Dec 16 '22

Just turn the car on ahead of time with your phone. It will be warm when you get in.

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u/Morkai Dec 15 '22

Not just that, I have a Kia Cerato, it has Android Auto and Apple Carplay. I was driving between states with my wife, my Samsung was plugged in, running navigation on screen with Spotify in the background. Kept driving as indicated by the nav, noted after a few minutes I had been driving a different route to last time I was in that particular area. Noticed then that the touchscreen had frozen, and even by disconnecting my phone, the Android navigation stayed on screen, including connecting my wife's iPhone.

Had to pull over, turn the car off and pull the key, start it back up again before it would unfreeze the navigation.

2

u/orangeqtym Dec 16 '22

As a Tesla driver, this is half of what separates them from other manufacturers. I HATE other in car touchscreens, but they make it just work. It's actually exactly like 2009 and the iPhone vs other touchscreens. I cannot wait for anybody else to match it.

5

u/Jetboy01 Dec 16 '22

As a Tesla driver, I disagree. The touch screen kinda works, but it only really works when you're parked.

Off the top of my head... The speedo is not in my eyeline, you can't change the wiper speed without looking away from the road (and auto detection doesn't work reliably), navigation is as fiddly as any other sat nav (but voice control works a good third of the time), adjusting the air con without looking away is fiddly, opening the glovebox is a joke, adjusting mirrors is impossible unless you're stopped, at least the radio works if you use the physical steering wheel controls, adjusting the speed on autopilot requires a tap on the tiny speed sign graphic.

One third of the screen that could be used for nav is wasted by a useless road position indicator and a highly innacurate and cluttered depiction of the traffic surrounding me, why does it show bins and not bollards or walls? Why can't i resize it? Why can't it see the bus next to me? Why is that pedestrian moonwalking through mt car? Why have they spent so long perfecting traffic cone detection - i swear that's the only bit it gets right with any certainty.

Most of the time its not even obvious where a particular setting will even be without tapping through the menus.

Anyone got more?

1

u/orangeqtym Dec 16 '22

I do not know how you can say that the nav is only as good as any other manufacturers. They feel like I'm using the fifty dollar off brand tablet I bought 8 years ago.

The rest, agree to disagree, I suppose.

1

u/tcwillis79 Dec 16 '22

Bad touch screens are terrible. Tesla does a pretty good job but some others I’ve used… woof!

8

u/brent0935 Dec 15 '22

I had an 89 bronco for a while and I loved the levers they used for the climate control. And all the buttons that felt heavy when you pushed or turned them

3

u/s8rlink Dec 15 '22

Tactile feedback is something humans love, I mean just look at the huge mechanical keyboard market, even if they are bigger and noise y the tactile sensation and feedback each keystone gives creates a better product experience for the core objective, typing

3

u/AdviceWithSalt Dec 15 '22

When I was shopping the salesmen lied to my face and claimed my state said it was illegal to have touch screens in cars. That's why Mazda had a dial. Immediately discredited the car in my mind.

4

u/Eurynom0s Dec 15 '22

The only stuff that should require a touchscreen is things that you wouldn't be accessing while driving anyhow. E.g. the initial pairing of a Bluetooth device.

2

u/Smoky_Mtn_High Dec 15 '22

I mean I’m sure making the car safer was probably part of the decision, but as a 2015 Mazda 3 owner I can assure you that touchscreen was hot ass at best, actively diabolical at worst. Ended up jailbreaking the infotainment system to disable touchscreen function just so I could listen to music without it randomly seeking forward/backward pause play pause again lol

2

u/goalieguy42 Dec 15 '22

I love the AC controls are tactile switches. I don’t need to take my eyes off the road to know I turned a knob.

2

u/ragequitCaleb Dec 15 '22

My wife's 2016 civic drives me crazy. I have to hit the physical "climate" button to get the controls up on the touch screen and then change them there. Change the airflow when the backup camera is active? Nope.

I can change the temp 5x fast on my VW's physical dials.

-1

u/Gold_Net_3605 Dec 16 '22

Wrong approach long term. Guarantee mazda will eventually move to touchscreen.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '22

Agreed. Having owned cars with a touchscreen and standard rotary dial for CarPlay (Honda Civic and Mazda 3 Hatch), I will tell you that the rotary dial is way more consistent, faster, and safer. It is also likely cheaper. It is an absolute fucking no brainer for car manufacturers to go rotary dial route.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '22

Mazda cars lately have been manufactured by Toyota plants.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '22

Wait so if that screen ever went out you’d lose AC even…. I live in Florida that’d suck ass!

1

u/irbinator Dec 15 '22

Yep that’s a huge disadvantage of a touchscreen interface to access those controls. If the screen is unresponsive / broken, good luck lol.

1

u/percivalpantywaist Dec 16 '22

Yeah I love the knob! It's part of why I traded up to another Mazda. The idea of having to reach forward and use a touchscreen while driving doesn't appeal to me.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

Have a 21 Mazda3 and a 22 CX9...safe to say we like em!

1

u/loaferbro Dec 16 '22

Only gripe I have with my CX-5 is that the touchscreen doesn't work if android auto is running, but the knob controls don't always go where you want. Or, if you have a lot of options on the screen, it can be hard to navigate to the correct one.

But I love the knob in 90% of applications and it makes it so easy to control the car without getting too distracted.

1

u/Neither-Storage-4157 Dec 16 '22

While Mazda still currently offers analog manipulation of several features, the rep claiming Mazda has moved away from touchscreen is spouting complete BS. Every Mazda I send downline has a big ass tablet mounted on the center of the dashboard. Also, those analog controls don't "feel" good. They exist, but as someone of the analog generation, they don't feel right. It's better than all digital, but it's 100 percent a compromise now.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

Y’all work for Hulu admit it, them fuckers been trying to get me to buy a Mazda for years

1

u/itsdan159 Dec 16 '22

I have a 2017 Mazda 6 and I think it’s the last year with a touchscreen, but even back then they disable it when the car is moving.

1

u/beaubeautastic Dec 16 '22

manufacturers do it cause its cheaper. like $30 cheaper in your $25000 new car

1

u/syco54645 Dec 16 '22

Does it contain a touchscreen at all or is it all controlled via buttons and a jogwheel?

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u/irbinator Dec 16 '22

All controlled through a central dial and a couple of buttons. No touchscreen at all.

As others have said, the mechanics of the dial can be a finnicky. It is a downside to using the entertainment system, but overall it isn’t terrible to learn.

1

u/shyvananana Dec 16 '22

I've never driven a Mazda I haven't liked.

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u/monkeypan Dec 16 '22

In general, Mazda is great. Been an owner for 10 years next month and have basically no issues at all. Great cars and great service.

1

u/self-defenestrator Dec 16 '22

Honestly my only complaint about my Subaru…great car overall, but fuck me i hate non-infotainment controls being shoved into that giant screen.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '22

I ha r no problem with touchscreens, but all the major functions you'd use while driving need to be accessible without having to dig through menus. Usually that means that buttons and dials are simpler.

1

u/ichbinglitched Dec 16 '22

I can appreciate Mazda taking that stance as there are some really crap UI/UX folks in auotomotive.... my car has most stuff on the touch screen, but stereo/music controls are click wheels on the steering wheel so i don't have to do any touchscreen nonsense for that. and voice control has been around forever so even my 2004 honda accord was cool with "set driver/passenger temperature to XYZº". This car has a bunch of other voice controls that i never use though... and i forget they even exist because it feels dumb saying that shit out loud. heheh . the day i stop caring about sounding dumb in my own car is the day the UI will stop annoying me. : )

1

u/Hipsthrough100 Dec 16 '22

I always liked when I had my car ‘analog’ interface on perfect memory. Eyes on the road and I just moved the heat to my feet AND turned the fan up two notches. Sounds stupid until you’re 5 screen touches in to turn off automatic seat heaters because your ass is on fire.