A Shot at Rivian? Scout President says Scout will have “real buttons”

[MGA]

Remove also Internet, Bluetooth, LTE, screens altogether, everything. They are all the devil's inventions. Cars too. Horse carriages were much better, reliable, and safer.

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[R.I.P.]

Even an old guy like me can come up to speed on soft controls. So many said the original iPhone would never take off because it had no buttons. I adapted, and now find my vehicles with buttons to be cludgy and archaic. Screen control is here,

One of the things I disliked the most about the Hummer EV is the very clumsy mix of screen control and buttons all over the place.

 

[NY_Rob]

Vent control is always high on the list of "why did the automate those?". IMO it's the case of a "lookie what we can do.." feature and can be set to direct the vents according to a driver profile. On the down side, they are expensive compared to manual vents, dangerous to adjust while driving and add just another bunch of motors and controllers to an already expensive vehicle and something else that can break in the future.

As far as no buttons or dials... fine, but stop moving things around every update so we are not constantly having to search for things we previously knew how to find. That's the great thing about physical buttons with painted on functions.. that Recirculate button is always going to be a Recirculate button, it's not a going to be the Open Trunk button next update.

And before Scout takes a shot at anyone... let's see their vehicle in final form being delivered to paying customers. Fisker had lots to say about the Ocean, but it's got tons of problems now that actual customers are taking deliveries.

 

[Steve A.]

VW is mediocre. Audi sometimes.

I'll take Audi *real* leather over pleather (aka vegan leather) every time and I don't have to look down at my Q7 physical controls to use them AND a quick glance at the odometer requires ZERO clicks!

 

[Rivianready]

I like how Rivian takes a hybrid approach to some of their physical buttons. For example, the right toggle becomes your garage door opener when you get close to home. I also like how the left toggle becomes your answer and hang up when you send and receive calls.

I also think that when a car is able to be updated and improved, having physical buttons are sometimes a negative because you can’t change them when you devise a better approach like you can on a screen.

I also agree that too much complexity on screens can make for a dangerous distraction. As long as they can keep it simple, it works.

Finally, don’t forget about voice controls and commands. This is a very powerful and safe way of controlling cars that don’t involve buttons or screens.

 

[R1Tom]

*Theoretically* sure, but I'm still waiting for an odometer on the primary display instead of reaching over to the infotainment screen while driving and clicking 3-4 deep! SMH

Or you could just check the app?

 

[Supratachophobia]

I present to you … buttons:

I had this car - a 2013 MDX (not this exact car, but the same year). The button layout was a t r o c i o u s. I couldn’t find shit, even after 5 years. It was infuriating.

All I’m saying is that buttons CAN be better, but in many cases, it’s just not. And the opposite is true - screens can be awful, but can be designed to be not terrible.

That's every Acura. I couldn't find the trunk release on a 2023 and I consider myself somewhat of a technology person.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

My preference is for all the safety critical stuff has physicals buttons.

All non-critical, but frequently pushed buttons have direct soft controls. Not a two or more touches to change the setting like the heated seat. That button is hit for too often to be in a second control.

For non-frequent things the most important aspect was being able to find them while a vehicle was stopped. I haven't had much issue with the Rivian with this one.

I'm also not a big fan of assigning multiple functions to the same control. Like I know the Driver+ is engaged the same way as Autopilot, but I don't like it.

I'm also not a fan of non-obvious physical controls. Like I wanted my GF to turn on the fog lights in my Rivian R1T on a dark night. I didn't think to have her try the control when the vehicle was stopped, and she accidently turned off the lights. It took a second or two of quickly explaining her error to get her to fix it.

This wouldn't have happened with normal rotation controls or with separate fog light switches.

It was also an issue with the wiper functions due to it taking longer than warranted to change the setting. This was resolved with an autowiper update that gave us additional settings so I haven't had to fight it so much.

The sole source of the biggest "eyes off the road" distraction I've had is the navigation tool. They simply need to get better regardless of what tool you use.

I've spent countless times in arguments with the nav, and I'm probably far from alone in this.

Maybe instead of spending so much time on AI generated puppies videos that the tech companies could build a nav that doesn't suck.

 

[Steve A.]

Or you could just check the app?

Because taking my hands off the wheel and looking down at my phone is what I want to do instead of just looking at the dash like EVERY OTHER VEHICLE EVER PRODUCED?

 

[R1Tom]

Because taking my hands off the wheel and looking down at my phone is what I want to do instead of just looking at the dash like EVERY OTHER VEHICLE EVER PRODUCED?

I guess I don't care much about vehicle miles very often so I just check app now and then to see if I should think about a tire rotation. And when I near warranty expirations mileage for anything I want to address before expiration. But otherwise I don't really care.

But for people who like to monitor it while driving, it would be nice to be able to toggle it on somewhere, but I'd prefer to keep the real estate on the screens for something else.

 

[Steve A.]

I guess I don't care much about vehicle miles very often so I just check app now and then to see if I should think about a tire rotation. And when I near warranty expirations mileage for anything I want to address before expiration. But otherwise I don't really care.

But for people who like to monitor it while driving, it would be nice to be able to toggle it on somewhere, but I'd prefer to keep the real estate on the screens for something else.

Personally, I find the entire center section of the primary display a colossal waste of space. I don't need to see an animatedly real time display of traffic around me since I'm already looking at the REAL traffic around me which would require me to take my eyes off to look at the display of it. Makes ZERO sense to me.

Regardless, there's still plenty of space on the primary display to displaying the odometer and both tripometers.

 

[Thedude]

Goggle or Bing “2022 Ram 2500 center screen” and look at the images
12” vertical touch screen with buttons on all 4 sides ‍‍‍‍

I much prefer it over the Rivian screen/infotainment/button setup. Ram struck a good balance between having physical buttons for some things and mostly software buttons for the rest.

 

[jimmyb2]

*Theoretically* sure, but I'm still waiting for an odometer on the primary display instead of reaching over to the infotainment screen while driving and clicking 3-4 deep! SMH

I’m puzzled. I must be missing something. Please, what is so important or useful about being able to view the odometer while driving?

In my experience the odometer is one of the least used pieces of information available In a vehicle. For the uses I have made of that information it can easily wait to be read while stopped after I end my trip or before I begin a new trip.

 

[Ngkgb]

I know people hate on the vents, but I find it very convenient to be able to turn off the rear or passenger vents by just asking Alexa to tapping a few buttons on the screen. No way to do this in not other cars.

 

[DuoRivians]

I know people hate on the vents, but I find it very convenient to be able to turn off the rear or passenger vents by just asking Alexa to tapping a few buttons on the screen. No way to do this in not other cars.

I’m not a fan of manual vents.

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