> So with that, it shouldn't matter what the center console is like, because the driver shouldn't be messing with the center console at all while driving. It might as well not even exist to the driver. That's my argument. I'm far more leaning towards your car being a tool for driving when you're in the driver's seat and the car is in motion than you probably are, as I imagine you'll probably say the driver should be adjusting the fine tuning of the radio, the driver should be changing how the AC is blowing, etc.
That is the ideal scenario, but its not realistic. The fact is that there are situations where the driver needs to be able to turn the volume down, adjust the ac or whatever and they don't need a giant screen to do it - they need easily accessible controls that don't require them to take their eyes off the road.
You can wrap it in whatever justification you want, you're still arguing for a car to be an entertainment center first and a usable tool second.
I agree, there are situations where the driver needs to turn the volume down. Most cars these days in the US have steering wheel media controls, so it does not require messing with the center console.
As for adjusting the AC, if their car is equipped with auto climate they shouldn't need to adjust the AC when the vehicle is moving. I've driven many, many thousands of miles through changing weather without needing to adjust my AC on any car I've owned all the way back to a 2000 Honda Accord which also had steering wheel media controls.
I do agree, not all cars have steering wheel media controls. Not all cars have auto climate. But if your car does have these things, you should not need to mess with the center console while the car is in motion. And any car that puts things like climate behind the screen almost certainly has auto climate controls and almost certainly has steering wheel media controls.
When you're driving a car and the vehicle is moving, your sole focus should be driving the car. Not making fine adjustments to your stereo. Not messing with the air conditioning. Not changing some other settings on the center console. Just driving. If you cannot achieve it with the buttons on the wheel or immediately around it, you probably shouldn't mess with it while driving because its probably not entirely a necessary thing to moving the car safely. If it is something that's necessary to move the car safely, it should be on the wheel or immediately around it, not the center console.
I really recommend you practice never using the center console while the car is in motion. Try and drive your car with only the things on or directly around the wheel. Try trusting your auto-climate. I made a point to get into the habit of never touching the center console, and I've definitely found you never need to mess with it on a modern car. Try focusing on only driving your car when it is in motion instead of making any adjustments to the center console. It can be done, I do it practically every trip I take.
> You can wrap it in whatever justification you want, you're still arguing for a car to be an entertainment center first and a usable tool second.
I'm literally stating over and over again that the only thing you should be doing is driving the car when the car is in motion. How can that possibly be seen as the car as an entertainment center first? I'm literally saying you should not mess with your radio while you drive. I'm even saying you shouldn't mess with your AC while you drive!
I don't know how else to say it. When the car is in motion, driving the car should be your sole focus. Do you disagree?
>I don't know how else to say it. When the car is in motion, driving the car should be your sole focus. Do you disagree?
I don't. But adjusting the AC is normal for most cars, I've also driven thousands of miles across the US in a much newer car and had to adjust the AC depending on the weather. I've also had to adjust the playback or volume of audio because it was distracting (i.e. songs with sirens or car sounds in them, sudden change in radio station volume, etc).
Either A) The car should not have any of these options at all.
Or B) Those options should be adjustable by the driver without taking their eyes off the road.
There is no scenario in which it is both safe to have those options and those options require the use of a non-tactile interface. Your perfect ideal of never interfacing with the non-driving portions of the car is not something that could every possibly apply universally.
> I've also had to adjust the playback or volume of audio because it was distracting
You've bought a recent model car that didn't have steering wheel media controls? Why would you choose a model where you had to take your hands off the wheel to do such a basic media task that a driver would probably do a lot? Or have you just trained yourself that its so normal to take your hands off the wheel that you haven't bothered to build the muscle memory of using the wheel to control the media volume? Even my 2000 Honda Accord had steering wheel media controls. You have to almost go out of your way to find one without it these days. Taking your hands off the wheel to control the volume is not a valid reason for any car with steering wheel media controls.
Can you clue me in on why you had to adjust the AC? Were you using auto-climate? Did you have it set to a reasonable temperature, or an extreme temperature? Did you have it set to auto-fan speed? Did you actually have to do it, or are you just so accustomed to playing around with your AC instead of just trusting the auto-climate that you felt compelled to adjust it while moving? What bad thing would of happened if you didn't make a change right then instead of waiting until you weren't moving?
Note that I do not consider defrosters a part of the AC those are a part of controlling visibility like wipers. Those should have physical controls near the wheel to engage which all my cars with screens have a physical defroster toggle. Do note I'm not anti-physical-controls, physical controls for important safety features absolutely make sense and should be on the wheel or immediately surrounding it.
I've made over a couple dozen trips totaling several hundred miles in my cars since the start of this comment thread. I've gone from >100F bright sunny days to 60F overcast days with high humidity (lots of storms). I have made zero adjustments to the AC on either of my cars and they're still wonderfully comfortable. Not only have I made zero AC adjustments, I haven't had to make any adjustments to the center console at all while the vehicle was in motion.
It seems you suggest that just by having tactile controls its then fine for the driver to operate while the vehicle is moving. Take a look at the list of tactile controls on my picture above. Sure, I could press SETUP and use the knobs to navigate menus in the car to toggle all kinds of settings. But I should never actually do that while driving. There's no reason to, there's no excuse to. But hey, its physical, tactile controls I can use, so I guess I can feel free to play around with those knobs as its safe because its physical!
In the end, there will be a lot of controls in a modern car that should never be adjusted by the driver while the vehicle is in motion. Even older cars, you shouldn't be going into the passenger glove box while the car is in motion, you shouldn't be reaching over to the passenger side door to adjust the little mirror adjustment knob or the hand crank window while the car is in motion. Should cars just have not had a passenger side adjustable window? Should the cars not have allowed someone to try and adjust the mirror from inside the cabin of the car? Should the car just not have a passenger side glovebox in the dashboard? All of these things are unsafe for the driver to operate while the car is in motion, so option A states those features shouldn't have been on the car to begin with.
People want navigation in their cars. Having something like navigation means there will be controls which are unsafe for a driver to attempt to operate while the vehicle is in motion. But, navigation can be used safely by a driver, pretty easily. It just means they need to set their route and routing options ahead of time. If its a good navigation system the trip information is well integrated into the rest of the system and it can be referenced easily in the same way the driver references other gauges and critical operating information. These days navigation steps will show up on heads-up displays and on the instrument cluster, places either within or near the driver's focus. Knowing and having confidence on your path is absolutely a part of the driving process. Having a good, well-designed navigation system in a car is a good thing when used properly.
Even something like pairing a phone with Bluetooth is an example of a feature of a car which makes a lot of sense to include but shouldn't be adjusted by the driver while the car is in motion. Its entirely possible to play back music through Bluetooth through the car safely while the car is in motion, but you shouldn't be opening your phone to change the music nor should you begin the pairing process while the car is in motion. But to your standard, a driver should be able to pair the phone or choose a different app to play music on while driving, or there shouldn't be Bluetooth available at all. This is even though its entirely possible to set it up before you're driving and then use the steering wheel controls to make adjustments once moving.
And no, an AUX cord isn't somehow magically safe compared to Bluetooth. You shouldn't be juggling your phone, the cable, and the car's jack while you drive the car, even though its physical. And using an aux cord pretty much means you're not going to have any next/previous controls from the steering wheel.
Once again, I really recommend you try never touching the center console while the vehicle is moving. It can be done, I guarantee it! Just set up your car properly before you start moving, and you shouldn't need to make adjustments outside of the steering wheel controls or controls immediately surrounding the wheel while you're in motion. Reflect after your drive all the times you adjusted something on the center console and think about how you could have set it up so you didn't have to do it while driving. Reflect on if you even really needed to make that change at all. Over time I imagine you'll find all the things that you tweak throughout your drive, you probably don't really need to. You'll break the habit of making tons of micro adjustments to your AC and you'll resist making unnecessary changes to your stereo. You'll stay more focused on driving, something you claim to highly value.
> Your perfect ideal of never interfacing with the non-driving portions of the car is not something that could every possibly apply universally.
That is the ideal scenario, but its not realistic. The fact is that there are situations where the driver needs to be able to turn the volume down, adjust the ac or whatever and they don't need a giant screen to do it - they need easily accessible controls that don't require them to take their eyes off the road.
You can wrap it in whatever justification you want, you're still arguing for a car to be an entertainment center first and a usable tool second.