How can the car be operated better? With a touchscreen or with a conventional button? A car magazine has taken on the question.
A Swedish car magazine called “Vi Bilägare” which means “We Motorists” has the old one HMI (Human Machine Interface) compared to the new one. The old HMI means buttons or switches or controls like those found in most vehicles just a few years ago. The new HMI means a touchscreen.
The magazine has eleven modern vehicles with a Volvo 2005 V70 compared. Drivers were asked to complete various tasks in the car. So they should set the car radio or activate the seat heating while driving on a test track at around 110 kilometers per hour.
The users of modern vehicles were given a certain amount of lead time to familiarize themselves with the touch screen to befriend Then the time it took them to complete the tasks was measured. The person driving the older Volvos got the jobs done first. The touch screens took much longer. The MG Marvel R took the most time, followed by the BMW iX and the Seat Leon. The modern Volvo C40 made it into the midfield.
The reason given was that the touchscreens are more complex and the controls have different usability. At the bmw the wide range of functions led to orientation difficulties, according to the magazine. In addition, the lack of backlighting on the VW and Seat models made operation more difficult.
Other studies, such as a survey by Yougov, also showed that buttons are preferred by many. But the future of the HMI probably lies in the voice input. However, this has not been investigated, although there is still a long way to go.