News

I'm ok with a decent amount of tech in a car. Like I'm fine being able to connect my phone to the car and have android auto take over the infotainment system.

But the HVAC stuff needs to be buttons I can access/control without looking or very minimal looking.

I don't want/need my car to have a SIM card, or connect to wifi, and report what I'm doing. If they want to do that, then they can give me the car for free and I'll drive it around letting them collect my driving habits.

Edit: Oh, and I'm sure as hell not paying some subscription fee on top of the price of the car.

Peak technology enjoyment in a car includes

• multiple zone ac
• heated/ventilated seats
• real buttons and not FUCKING CAPACITIVE TOUCH
• android auto/apple car play

We need some serious federal regulation against bullshit in vehicles.

Every function that is normal to use while in motion needs a physical button.

Absolutely no fucking spyware reporting back to the manufacturer.

give me buttons and dials, not touch screens and ai. I want to drive, not check social media. I'll be keeping my 2009 until the engine locks up.

Yep. I'm hoping my current car holds out until this 'smartphone on wheels" trend reverses.

All I need is Bluetooth in the audio system and a place to hang my phone. Beyond that, things that don't make my car move or my body comfortable can go to hell.

I don’t hate tech in my car.

I hate unnecessary, poorly designed tech in my car.

Current tech design unnecessarily complicates and obscures what should be simple and easily accessible functions. That’s more than just irritating, it’s dangerous.

As a driver, all I really want is good music, good navigation, and easy access to all my controls.

I don't want to have to go into submenus to change my temp settings, or open the trunk.

IMO, a vehicle should be a fairly simple tool to operate. All of the nuances with driving should be how you use those controls to get to where you're going. Even with the (frankly, impressive) self driving tech we currently have, I still don't think it's ready to replace a driver at the wheel; bluntly, that's the only tech I really want in a car.

Automatic options for fairly standard functions, such as turning on your headlights at night, shutting off the highbeams when there's oncoming vehicles, and even automatic windshield wipers, can make things easier. Which I appreciate. I can override all of these systems, which is good. The advent of climate controls rather than "how hot" and "how cold" you want your blower to be and at what speed, is also nice. Even driving assist, like automatic lane keeping and adaptive cruise control is a nice-to-have. But these are all augmentations of systems and they're pretty transparent to the driver. If you don't want to use them, you can easily ignore or override the systems and do it yourself.

What I don't appreciate is all the infotainment garbage. I can literally play games on the touch screen of my partners 2019 accord. I tried it out and bluntly, it's not comfortable, it only works when the car isn't moving, and I'm not going to sit in my car to play games. That's dumb. I kind of get it for EVs for when they're charging, but honestly, I can have a better experience on my phone/tablet.

I don't need weather, I don't need a touch screen, and I don't need whatever garbage GPS system you were paid to sell with the car.

Give me Android auto/some carplay, with maybe FM as a backup in case of emergency, and I'm good. My phone already has data, my car doesn't need LTE. Give me buttons to press for all climate and driving functions and I'm a happy person.

I don't want to navigate some menu to try to turn on my defogger. Fuck off.

Driving tech should be transparent to anyone who doesn't give a shit, and just wants to drive down the road.

No one hates the tech in their cars, ABS is universally loved. What people hate is tech working not in tandem but against them

Car companies don't care, they think the tech gives them an excuse to charge more even though a lot of the tech is actually cheaper (a single touch screen instead of all kinds of knobs and buttons) plus it's a way for them to collect more of your data to sell. Before buying my next vehicle, I want to make sure I can easily disable its internet functionality through hardware so that it doesn't phone home.

Data privacy is a concern of mine.

Car makers see technology as a data mining opportunity to force us to use their shitty infotainment systems to track our every move and interest, and then milk us with subscriptions.

I don't like tech in cars either.. I like EVs bit the thought of dealing with that center screen for everything is just lame. Another thing that sucks are the fobs.. Who asked for those? If I want to go swimming I now have to take apart a little plastic thing and stick it in my car

It's not about the drivers, it's about cheaper costs and normalizing subscription services for your vehicle.

Summary: Computerized touch screens and 'smart' features with poorly thought-out UI and UX are a solution in search of a problem.

Start with what directly benefits the user and driving experience.

Go from there.

While it would be nice to have a screen for music and nav, I absolutely hate any car where you NEED to use the screen to do things. It feels like distracted driving is designed into cars these days…

I drive an EV for work, any my biggest gripe is the touchscreen. What is wrong with buttons. Why must everything be hidden behind a menu I have to navigate on a touchscreen. It feels less safe, frankly. In my own car I have muscle memory for each button and can do things like skip songs or adjust the AC without looking away from the road... But in the EV I can't.

I wish my stereo system in my RX 450h were easily swappable. i haven't had a swappable stereo in a car since my 2005 suzuki wagon

I want fucking buttons!

I was helping my mom shop for a new car, and we discovered she needed the requirement of "physical AC controls".

Everything is all on the touch screen.

I like the tech in my car, it has knobs and buttons. But then again it is from '91.

ITT: lemmy designing a car, like Homer Simpson.

The only features I really want is ABS, Bluetooth and a physical interface. Everything else I would rather not pay for.

I live in Sweden so it's not like I need AC, I don't use cruise etc. and most other modern features mainly serve to annoy me.

2014 impreza. No screen at all. I bought a phone mount that shows waze and charges my phone.

I have cruise control and heated seats. And I can operate both with gloves on!

Don’t need a backup cam because my windows and mirrors are good.

I will drive this car until it dies, and then I’ll replace the head gaskets and drive it until it dies again. And then I will replace the cvt and drive it until it dies a third time.

Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do about the NY road salt. The frame will be left, flake by flake, in the gutters of 490. It’s the only thing that can take this car from me, and it is its inevitable fate.

Visited my parents while they were in Florida recently. Drove their rental car to the store, it was a newer model with "Lane Assist Technology." It was terrible. Tried to swerve around a pothole, and the steering wheel vibrated and steered me back into it. Same thing happened as I angled the car to enter a roundabout, the damn thing just steered against me! It felt like at any time the car might just "decide" to swerve me into oncoming traffic! I'll never buy a car with that trash masquerading as tech. Absolute garbage feature.

Power windows, Bluetooth audio systems, seat warmers.

These are all really positive tech advancements in my lifetime.

Touch screen interfaces, power door handles (without a manual override), firmware disables features or limitations that are determined by the DLC you purchase from your dealership...

These are fucking bullshit and almost no one I know likes them.

It is insane how anti-consumer cars have gotten.

Yup.

I refuse to buy any vehicle made after 2015, and even that's quite a bit newer than I'd like.

Car tech peaked in 2018. Everything since then has been a down grade in my opinion

I love the adaptive cruise control of my ID3. It will not only keep the distance to other vehicles but speed up and slow down automatically based on speed limits and road features like roundabouts or turns not only by what it can see but also knows based on data from HERE.

It’s not always correct unfortunately and not usable in urban areas (should not even be allowed there in my opinion) but on highways it’s great.

But I hate the touch buttons in this car.

All 4runners still reigning supreme with chonky ass thicc boi buttons and dials. Give me Android auto capabilities on a small screen, backup camera, and rear parking sensors. That's it.

My wife drives a 2023 loaded Kia Sportage. The thing is basically a smartphone on wheels. Giant dash screen with all the car controls buried in it, touch screen climate controls that double as touch screen audio/volume controls. If I want to change the AC temp I have to take my eyes off the road for a few seconds. Also a subscription service if you want to use any of the actual useful functions like remote start, remote climate control, remote door lock/unlock, sentry mode, etc. I hate where cars are at today.

Physical buttons please and thank you

That's because they're putting dumb shit in. We have the technology for example to -

Have high beams shine around other cars. (Regulators actually fucked this up)

Put all the speed and other needed information on the windshield.

Put a thermal image on the windshield so you can see the road as if it were daylight.

Use "fly by wire" controls instead of the same control scheme as a Model T.

And quite a bit more. But no instead we have the world's worst mix of UI/UX and software in an attempt to save money and sell data.

I bought a $10 Bluetooth adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter hole and then an aux cord in our 2010 vehicle. It works significantly more reliably than our other, 2020 vehicle with built-in Bluetooth, touchscreen and all the bells-and-whistles. Seriously, I turn my 2010 car on, "successful connection" every time within seconds. The 2020, I inevitably get failed connections. I don't think my phone has connected to it first try, once. And then sometimes it fails to connect either the audio or the phone calls. Or, I get it connected and my wife gets to the car with her phone and suddenly my Bluetooth connection is gone and we're listening to her phone. It's just infuriating.

All I want is tactile controls. I wanna feel when I hit the aircon control and know it's distinct from the volume control. And I wanna feel each increment of all knobs. That way, I do it by feel instead of having to look at the control panel.

Spyware needs to go, asking with selling of driver's data.

Some is great and much appreciated. For instance I love the things that takes the camera feeds and creates a simulated top down view. But some things are just useless and needless.