Carmakers are now working to redesign car interiors after two separate safety agencies, the Euro NCAP and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will start to penalize touchscreen-only controls for essential driving tasks.
Starting this year, Euro NCAP will be requiring physical controls for turn signals, wipers, hazard lights, horn, and emergency calls to earn a five-star rating.
Meanwhile, in China, similar requirements are expected to become law. The China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology say that turn signals, hazard lights, gear selection, and emergency calling must have fixed buttons or switches with a minimum surface size of 10 mm by 10 mm.
China is also set to ban the yoke-style steering wheel and even properly codifying high-level driver assistance technology, mandating standards for both Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving systems. These include a “safety case” requirement wherein carmakers must present documented evidence that their systems can handle both daily driving and critical high-risk scenarios and a “minimal risk condition” requiring that if an automated system fails or a driver ignores a takeover request, the vehicle must be capable of autonomously reaching a stable, stationary state.
The moves in Europe and China are a challenge to automakers seeking minimalist interiors such as Tesla, BYD, and Xiaomi amid safety concerns about driver distraction and screen failures.
The thinking is that the risk of crashes increases as drivers hunt through touchscreen menus to access basic functions.
For automakers, the new protocols mean a major move away from touchscreen dependent dashboards.
Brands such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are bringing physical switches to their cars. Mercedes is going so far to replace its maligned haptic “swipe” steering wheel buttons with physical rocker switches, rotary rollers, and hard buttons.
On the other hand, BMW started removing its physical rotary iDrive knob from cars in 2021. Its Neue Klasse generation of vehicles, starting with the iX3, debuted BMW’s Panoramic iDrive system, which has a full-width, pillar-to-pillar display and haptic touch controls on the steering wheel.
The same goes with Mazda which has ditched the physical Mazda Commander knob in the all-new CX-5 for a large 15.6-inch touchscreen. It cited the need for better smartphone integration in their cars as the basis for the move. In addition, they have replaced hard buttons on their steering wheel for haptic-style buttons. Their moves reverse findings done by Consumer Reports that just cited Mazda as the Safest Car Brand in part due to its excellent ergonomics and drivability.
Nonetheless, in both BMW and Mazda’s case, key functions required for a five-star safety rating are still controlled by buttons.
Automakers have a three-year window in Europe to redesign interiors to quality for the Euro NCAP’s top safety score, while in China, carmakers have until April 13 to comment on the Chinese’s government’s proposed changes.
Toyota has the last LAUGHššš
ReplyDeleteToyota's bz4x (and stuff from Lexus) has to get rid of their yoke style steering wheel. They're still affected by this. šš
DeleteMany car brands has spent billions dollars for research and factories retrofitting for that so called high tech touch screens and now will spend again billions dollars to train workers and retrofit factories. What a waste š¤š¤š¤š¤
ReplyDeleteThe touch screens aren't going away. Maybe actually read the article?
DeleteAnd they didn't spend 'billions' to get rid of those buttons; they got rid of them to SAVE money. It's going to cost them some money to put them back but your numbers are waay out there lol
Of course not the touchscreen itself but the so called high tech touchscreens that incorporate almost all the functions of a car. Car brands spent billions on research and development of those softwares. Now they would spend billions for physical features.
DeleteProgramming the car functions being talked about in this article into software is beginner level coding. It's just on/off switches. Nowhere near billions to do. lol
DeleteThere had already been years of research in ergonomic button and dial design for industrial machinery, airplanes, and mass transit. The auto industry knew it and ignored it. Regulators too, knew it and failed to act to apply it to cars. A big thumbs down to Mazda cx-5
Deletelmao at Mazda and their new infotainments
ReplyDeletethank fucking GOD! stupid car manufacturers, always innovating the wrong way
ReplyDeleteChina’s fast and furious…quality vs Japans slow but sure quality.
ReplyDeleteDear Mazda: Na na na na na!
ReplyDeleteTesla left the group.
ReplyDelete