Devices that the driver has to operate with the touchscreen are surely controlled by CAN bus or something similar, because putting everything on the touchscreen only makes sense if everything is already controlled digitally. Or is there a computer with dozens of wires coming out of the back and threading their way to individual devices?
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An idea, maybe chop down some phone screen protector, but draw underneath, then stick it on?
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But we’re all for touchscreens on refrigerators, right?
Just a couple days ago I ran across this picture and thought to myself now that is the perfect dashboard. Knobs, sliders, and clear guages.
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We have the same, and agreed 100%. Extra alarming that, based on rental car experiences, it isn’t even the worst out there. Like, it’s bad, but compared to everything else it’s relatively OK.
What drives me nuts is the nannying, both its existence and its inconsistency. Previous model, you could operate the map screen while driving, now it only lets you look around the map if you’re stationary. And some menus grey out when driving… but not others! Aaaargh! And again, it wouldn’t even be an issue if these things had physical knobs. The climate control at least has buttons, but because they adjust things relatively rather than having absolute positions like with knobs and sliders, you still have to look.
Yes and yes? CAN bus is a two wire communication system. Vehicle communication systems can reduce vehicle wiring complexity, but that really depends on what the end goal is. Most things on the bus will have their own power and they will all need to be “smart” or at least have a CAN bus controller and the required circuity to operate the specific device. Previously pre-bus that control might have been provided by a switch or perhaps a relay / switch combo. You can have a “smart” switch, which would tie directly into the CAN bus, or you could have a traditional switch, slider, or knob wired to the controller providing the control signal (with the controller talking to the device via the bus).
If you are having to provide at least 2 wires for the bus, and an on/off switch only requires 2 wires anyway, you haven’t saved anything. Scaling that up into a “cluster” or a gauge display then you still only need those two wires for the bus, not +20 to run to each part of the cluster. You have essentially moved the wires internally to each device and provided a communication link. As technology moves forward this obviously has larger and larger benefits.
In terms of wiring complexity it’s very difficult to compare a vehicle of the mid 90’s to one from 2023.
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Boingboing hypocrisy:
“Touch controls in cars suggest an industry fault line where safety got locked out out of design considerations.”
Two articles later:
“Have you ever been in someone else’s car and gotten jealous over the fancy features — like touchscreen maps and apps — they have? Well, you can get that…”
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honestly, i prefer those window controls too. and no extra wiring needed.
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I’m not sure that ad copy really counts as an “article” but the proximity to the VW article is amusing.
In their defense though I think that a touchscreen device for non-essential functions like maps and Apple CarPlay is more acceptable than a touchscreen for more critical functions like windshield wipers, environmental controls, opening a glove box, etc.
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I’m great with tech but I agree that this model is horrible. I don’t want a giant screen where my middle console should be. I got into an uber not too long ago and it looked like someone took my computer’s monitor and just screwed it onto the dash. It feels unnatural.
Many (all?) older BMWs, some Camaros, the Alfa Milano* (maybe the 164? can’t remember), Lancia Deltas…
The Milano was a real outlier - the window switches for the front are above the rearview mirror. It seems absurd, but then when you drive, you can use the switches (which also have shaped areas that tell you Up or Down by the convexity/concavity) without looking away from the road. I remember my first drive in one I thought “this is dumb.” Then I used it, and thought “this is genius.”
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Pop culture had a warning about touch screens from back in the 1980s that I immediately noticed but everyone else seemed to ignore: Star Trek: the Next Generation!
I distinctly remember a scene where Jordi (?) was waiting for a command to do something and we see him sitting there with his finger hovering over his touch screen and his finger is quivering as he holds it aloft. My immediate thought was that if they were physical buttons, he could just rest it there.
Of course, since they had hard-light holography, they could have made physical buttons on thet touch screens!
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Also the Miata has them on the center console. (Ours is a '95, don’t know if they ever changed it as the car has changed over the years.)
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Drive the New Flesh
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There was a joke about zone controls in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Probably the Starship Heart of Gold, where you had to wave your hand in a particular area above the console to activate a control. A black light on a black background would light up black to confirm your choice.
More seriously, I love my Renault Zoe partly because all the driving controls are physical except programming the navigation. Even the radio can be tuned from a set of knobs and buttons.
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There was an episode of The Expanse where a crewmember nearly got everyone killed when she pressed the wrong touchscreen control in a similar, high-stakes situation.
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That was Disaster Area’s sundiver ship, not the Heart of Gold.
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Two switches, actually. Volvo uses what would normally be the drivers window control lockout switch as a “shift” key.
Want to operate the front windows? Use the left or right switch on the center console. Want to operate the rear windows? Click the shift key and use the same two switches. 
Don’t forget the modern Mini Cooper. Window switches on the center stack. Their marketing department says it’s because they’re a “quirky” brand.
Also because in a mini, most passengers are within arm’s reach of the center stack.
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