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Computers and Cars: A Maddening Experience?
Johnny writes "The nytimes has a review of the new BMW 745i iDrive system. The iDrive system combines some 270 functions, some accessable by voice, into one tactile feedback joystick mouse thingy. While maybe easier for computer junkies, the reviewer finds the interface 'maddening, especially at first' and wonders out loud what a car from Microsoft might be like, citing that the 745i offers a clue. Without a key, a floor shifter or really any buttons, this might be the future for cars, are the masses ready to wrestle with computers just to go to Wawa for milk?"
At a recent computer expo (Comdex), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that get 100 miles to the gallon." Recently,General Motors addresses this comment by releasing this statement, "yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?" Below is a synopsis of the Microsoft Car: Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail, and you would have to re-install the engine. for some strange reason, you would accept this too. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT". But then you would have to buy more seats. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times faster, twice as easy to drive, but would only run on 5% of the roads. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades for their cars, which would make their cars run much slower. The oil, gas and alternator lights would be replaced with single "general car fault" lights. The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off. If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.
pronoblem
a WaWa is basically a 7-11 in the mid-atlantic states, and they seem to be everywhere (and I do mean EVERYWHERE). Some jokes regarding this include "You're from South Jersey if .... you know what a WaWa is, and can name the locations of about 10 of them," "You can give directions by where the WaWas are"
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
There's another fairly balanced article and discussion about iDrive over at Kuro5hin that's worth checking out. The author has similar mixed feelings about the technology, and talks about how other car manufacturers like Saab and Audi are developing similar systems.
Websurfing done right! StumbleUpon
- The electronic parking brake is unintuitive and dangerous. One of
the factors that make some cars safer than others is the ease of use of the
parking break in situations in which the main brake lines lose pressure or
the pedal snaps off. This causes the liability and collision insurance
rates to be slightly higher.
- A standard shift lever on an automatic transmission is considered a
safety feature, as both the position and the dash lights make it
immediately apparent to the driver that the car is in gear. The 745i has
only the light, and even at that, the light is stuck in the middle of a
confusing, crowded console. This also increases risk and thus insurance
rates.
- The fact that many Americans are afraid of technology and unable to
perform a task as simple as changing their VCR clock or installing a new
hard drive is a chilling reminder of the fact that valets, test drivers,
and other "guest drivers" of the 745i will be putting the driving public at
risk and increasing the owner's insurance rates.
- Since it is extraordinarily difficult to do something as simple as
turning on headlights or changing the radio station, the driver's attention
is likely to be diverted from the road.
All told, my actuary friend told me that the insurance rates for the first year that a driver owns a 745i are going to be astronomical. Rates for successive years are slightly lower, although the vehicle is generally regarded in the community to be a threat to life and property, and a lawsuit waiting to happen.The car is a real technology lover's paradise: active suspension, GPS, umpteen dozen little controls over everwhere. And yes, there is a key, but it's just a little puck that you insert into the dash. It has it's own little computer and calculates rolling security codes on the fly to foil car theives.
Now about the only thing I didn't like was the stinking iDrive system. It just plain sucks!! It way to hard to control things that I used to be able to push a button and do. Like surfing through three levels of menus just to turn on the defroster. Stupid.
The interface itself is ok, the button is hard to get used to becuase it is a joystick and wheel/button in one. And when you do something illegal it vibrates. Slick enough, but the interface is god awful.
Luckily this thing controls non-critical functions, I could see lawsuits brought if it controlled the gear selection or traction system.
Someone also told me that the software inside the iDrive is actually WinCE, can anyone verify this? If so, it would be truly a MS car after all.
BMW has a good track record of innovation, but I think this is a serious detour.
Contrary to popular belief, life is not a bitch. It is far far worse.
"European Car" magazine reviewed the new 7 series in their February, 2002 issue.
They mention that in 1953, the BWM 502 had 26 control and indicator functions. In the late 90's, the 7-series had over 70 functions, with as many indicators, and over 35 control elements (buttons, etc.)
Something *had* to be done to reduce the complexity of the cockpit. While driving down the road you do not want the person in the car next to you trying to figure out which of the 40 buttons on the dash controls what. You can do it by feel with more simple cars, but cars as advanced as the 7-series will be simply too much.
Most reviews I have read (I am a big car buff, especially BMWs) all say that once you get used to the system (go out in your driveway for a Saturday), you can figure the system out fairly quickly, and that using it (once you have it figured out) is actually easier than a bunch of buttons.
Also realize this is the first generation of the system. User interface will only get better.
I recently drove a Mercedes Benz C320 with the navigation system and cell phone options. They were all combined with the stereo onto one LCD. Once I figured out the relatively easy interface, I was able to do more by touch than I have been able to with other cars using buttons.
Having one consistent interface made things much easier.
About the only problem I foud, and the only problem mentioned in most reviews, is the ability to do multiple thigns at once. You cannot raise the stero's volume at the exact same time as you adjust the passenger-side heat.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
the reviewer finds the interface 'maddening
I can see why, if the interface was designed by the same people who designed their website.
When I pulled up their site I got the worst mis-rendered disaster I have ever seen. I got a column of text wordwrapped at !!14!! characters. Some of the text was invisible on black background. I got random little lines all over the screen. I don't know if it's because I'm using Netscape. I don't konw it it's because I have cookies shut off. But I *do* know it's not just because I have JavaScripting shut off. How do I know? I tried turning it Java script on and reloading. It actually wound up rendering *less* of the page.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Current car layouts (gear shifter generally obvious, steering wheel, key ignition in one of several common places, etc) are not "intuitive", either. Rather, they're "comfortable", because they don't deviate much from what you've been driving. Think about it. A Ford Model T and a Porsche 911 are still pretty similar in layout of the steering wheel, gear shift, gas, breaks, etc. Yes, the 911 may have things in slightly different places, and it certainly has many more options, but the point is that the layout is still similar to everything that's come before.
Now, before you say that the reason cars have the layout they do is because that layout is intuitive, let me say instead that that's certainly not the case. When cars were first being made, why didn't they use a "horse reigns"-like steering system, since that's what everybody was using before and thus must've been "intuitive"? Or why not a rudder lever like on a smaller boat, rather than the steering wheel from larger boats? Why gas on the right, break on the left? These things are not intuitive, but they're ingrained in us from long use. Think back when you first started driving. Did you just hop in the car and know how to do everything? Of course not, because it's not intuitive. But you learned, and having learned a certain way that's what you're comfortable with. And so, when a company tries to innovate and do something new, you complain because you have to read the manual to do what you think are "intuitive" tasks, even though you should be reading that manual anyway before driving the car away from the dealer.