Today’s automobiles are smart where they should be dumb and dumb where they should be clever. Enough is enough. Make a car that is mostly dumb and watch it sell, since people will pay more to have less of what automakers are offering them. Cars of days are like low-cost iPhones with wheels: bloatware-laden, unintuitive, and difficult to operate. Automobile manufacturers have long struggled with user interfaces, but until recently, the largest issue was “too many knobs.” I miss those days so much!
Every automobile now feels like a karaoke booth thanks to the spread of touchscreens and LCDs. The fan speed and direction controlled via three menus, and animations indicate reclaimed energy from braking. The speedometer changes color as you approach the limit. These interfaces are not only non-functional, but also unattractive! “Designed by committee and approved by someone who doesn’t have to use it,” the type, layouts, and animations scream.
Not to mention the issues of privacy and security, when I first saw a GPS in a car, my mother’s old RX300, roughly 20 years ago, I was skeptical. “That’s how they get you,” I reasoned. Teslas with past-due payments are now driving themselves to be impounded. Your automobile is now a narc, so welcome to the future! The ultimate insult is that these elements marketed as upmarket rather than low-cost options. Screens are so inexpensive that you could buy a million of them and use them everywhere, for everything, while telling customers to “enjoy the next generation of mobility!”
In reality, a cost-cutting strategy reduces part numbers while allowing your dashboard team to kick the can as far as they want. You know this because high-end models are returning to knobs and dials in order to get that “premium feel.” Therefore, here is what I would like: an automobile that does not drive itself. This is how I imagine it to look.
Dare to make a fool of yourself. Primarily, there are no screens. This is for a variety of functional and aesthetic reasons. Practically speaking, cellphones already accomplish nearly all of the functions that these screens do. There is no need for an out-of-date, sluggish Spotify or Apple Music app when your phone already does it flawlessly. Similarly, the phone handles navigation flawlessly. Both of these, it understood, work perfectly with voice commands.
Obviously, not having GPS or data (as well as concealed microphones or cameras) makes your vehicle feel more private. Sure, they can still obtain your phone, but if they want to track your travels beyond that, they will have to install a GPS kit on your undercarriage like in the old days. An aux input is all you need for media. It may also used as a charging cable, and you can easily swap it out for new and different devices. With some clever cable routing, your phone may be put in a variety of locations throughout the cockpit – not that you should be looking at it or touching it (use your words). I have a Bluetooth dongle for you if you want it. The car should just include a volume dial and a three-button basic playback control cluster on the steering wheel.
A few of knobs will do for the climate controls on those large center LCDs. Isn’t it true that no one believes these “zone” things work? No car is large enough to accommodate zones. It is easy to accomplish with a blue-to-red dial, blower choose, and A/C and recirculation toggles. Ordinary needle gauges can see in the instrument cluster. The normal idiot lights: check engine, low tire pressure, and so on, as well as speed, fuel, oil, and temperature.
