A Big iPad in Your Face
I was on the long, boring 500 kilometre trip back from Toronto driving my Jeep Grand Cherokee, trying to find a radio station that would come in. In the void, I was searching the radio for entertainment.
Then I realized that I had to take my eyes off the road in order to turn the knob and check the screen to see which frequency I was on. It’s not as though it’s a particularly dangerous or obstacle-laden highway, but just the same, you have to pay attention.
And that’s just for the radio. The rest of the features are more complex. In the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the air conditioning is controlled using a 3D interface, as are the heated and cooled seats. A screen measuring a few inches was enough to make me frequently take my eyes off the road, even if it was only a few seconds at a time. A second too long?
And that’s just a Jeep. Imagine in a Tesla Model S, where there’s a giant tablet covering the dashboard! It even includes internet access. The upcoming Tesla, the Model 3, also has a big screen that will literally be used for everything, from displaying speed, to cabin temperature to the selected radio station.
The problem is that consumers now want cars to offer practically as many functions as a smartphone. This calls for high-resolution graphics with a lot of colours. There’s nothing better for nabbing your attention.
Sooner or later, we’ll have to ask some serious questions about the distractions included in cars. It’s all well and good to ban cell phones while driving, but shouldn’t we make cars that aren’t rife with the very same problems?