111
Four Dead In Fire As Tesla Doors Fail To Open After Crash
(myelectricsparks.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
111 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
37808 readers
103 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
A touch screen is more expensive than an injection molded plastic knob, even if the actual interfacing of the controls is easier.
I take the point that it’s simpler to integrate with how many buttons, dials and controls newer cars have, but I think the proliferation of those bits is part of the same issue. A lot of stuff is being added not because people find use in these things but because companies feel they need to add them to appear like they’re tech forward.
A plastic nob is cheaper than a touchscreen, yes. But if you've already got a touchscreen as part of the design anyway (for things like satnav or car maintenance data), it's cheaper to not include any other buttons or inputs and to bundle them all up into one interface.
See that’s the thing, you don’t need a touch screen for those things, or even a screen. Everyone has a phone for sat nav, (you shouldn’t be looking at your phone while driving but you also shouldn’t be looking at a screen on the console while driving). And for maintenance stuff a light up an LED is enough.
I think in general there’s just been a proliferation of unnecessary features and with it has gone the affordable new car.
The screen is required for the FMVSS standard mandating rear view cameras. The jump in part price from that to touch is less than the amount saved by not having to tool up all the knobs and buttons, paying someone to run wires for all of them, paying someone to assemble all of the fiddly bits, and paying someone to install them in addition to the cost of already installing the screen that would eliminate all the other cost if it were the only input.