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Why automakers choose cheap touchscreens over safer physical controls

Ben Stolovitz

2h ago· 26 min readenOpinion

technology design automotive user experience

Summary

The article argues that the auto industry's widespread adoption of touchscreens in vehicles is driven primarily by cost savings, not by user experience or safety considerations. Touchscreens are cheaper to manufacture and install than traditional physical controls like knobs and dials. The author contends that while manufacturers market touchscreens as modern and cool, the real motivation is reducing production costs, and this comes at the expense of driver safety and usability.

Source

Hacker NewsWhy automakers choose cheap touchscreens over safer physical controlsben.stolovitz.com

Key quotes

· 3 pulled

Touchscreens are simple, flexible, and seem ill-suited to controlling 4,000lb machines.

I argue the auto industry loves touchscreens because they're cheap. Anything else, like coolness or ease-of-use, is secondary.

They replace knobs & dials with colossal touchscreens and bedeck every remaining surface in plastic capacitive buttons.

Snippet from the RSS feed

I argue the auto industry loves touchscreens because they're cheap. Anything else, like coolness or ease-of-use, is secondary. They are chosen in a culture of cost.

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