Physical buttons in a car/vehicle are a bug!

[AllInev]

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/rivians-chief-software-officer-says-221656379.html

Interesting take, but perhaps Wassym's comment was taken out of context? Or perhaps he's out of "touch" with why so many of us enjoy clicking on buttons?

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[CharonPDX]

Even in my Ford, where the voice assistant for vehicle operations works more often than not, I would rather hit buttons for many tasks. I don't want to yell at my car to do things when tapping a button is quick. ("Max defog/defrost" for example. I can reach over and press the Ford button by touch in about one second - finding it on the screen requires taking my eyes off the road to make sure I'm touching exactly the right option; and saying out loud "hey vehicle, turn on the defroster" - when it works - takes even longer, and is something I can't do if I'm on a phone call using the car speakerphone, or listening to music at higher volume, or wanting to be quiet because someone in the car is asleep.

Voice isn't the "do everything" some of these people think it is. Even if it were to recognize my statements with 100% accuracy.

 

[mpshizzle]

Hot take: I think the R1 has just the right amount of buttons. The turn signal stalk is a bit over crowded, but fine. I've got physical controls for everything I really want!

The garage, phone controls, music controls, etc are all physical controls when it's relevant and they go away when they're not.


The rest I'm totally cool with on screen controls

 

[atebit]

IMHO the soft buttons on the icon tray are way too fiddly. I have to hit them dead-on, otherwise nothing happens, or the icon jiggles like I’m trying to move it.

 

[beatle]

Saying that buttons are a bug ignores the value that you receive with positive, immediate tactile feedback that your input was registered without having to take your eyes off the road. Not only are voice commands often unreliable, they're also slow. And even if I can operate a function with a voice command, that doesn't mean I actually want to.

I'm not saying everything needs a button or dial, but the other extreme where everything should be done via the screen or voice is just as wrong.

 

[COdogman]

I thought I would hate not having some actual manual controls, but I have not really missed them. I wish we could customize our screen more, but overall I agree with him.

 

[R1Tom]

I love the way the R1 works without buttons. Seems about perfect to me!

 

[RivianRiverRat]

recent article on Phys.org
Use voice control rather than touchscreens for vehicle navigation, say researchers

 

[iansriv]

This is my first EV. Had it for about a year now. Ended up with two Audi ICE rentals in two countries and was transported back to the "good old days." After about two weeks, I don't miss the good old days. Back in the R1 and it's just so much easier and intuitive.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I use the screen and have the voice turned off. I hate voice controls but screen controls don’t bother me. Rivian’s work fairly well so I don’t mind. People complain about stuff like the vents being controlled on the screen but I set mine twice a year.

 

[PappaBolt]

I dislike saying this, but he’s wrong if the direction is voice driven everything. (Disclosure: I used to work for him). He’s a really smart guy and I highly value his insights. But having also been on the development side of Alexa, I can tell you there is a segment that won’t buy in to a voice driven interface. It’s disruptive and unnatural to stop the flow of conversation (or music, or think time) to insert a command to your device. Screens (or buttons) please. Alexa solved this with screen first devices. Some also have physical buttons.

 

[Dark-Fx]

The vehicle should just know what you want. What we really need is more sensors.

 

[PappaBolt]

The vehicle should just know what you want. What we really need is more sensors.

My wife disagrees with this statement

 

[josh0]

Hot take: I think the R1 has just the right amount of buttons. The turn signal stalk is a bit over crowded, but fine. I've got physical controls for everything I really want!

The garage, phone controls, music controls, etc are all physical controls when it's relevant and they go away when they're not.


The rest I'm totally cool with on screen controls

I don’t disagree with you at all, but if you think the R1’s turn signal stalk is too crowded, I hope you never have to drive an 80s/90s Chevy!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I dislike saying this, but he’s wrong if the direction is voice driven everything. (Disclosure: I used to work for him). He’s a really smart guy and I highly value his insights. But having also been on the development side of Alexa, I can tell you there is a segment that won’t buy in to a voice driven interface. It’s disruptive and unnatural to stop the flow of conversation (or music, or think time) to insert a command to your device. Screens (or buttons) please. Alexa solved this with screen first devices. Some also have physical buttons.

I consider myself one of those people who will not buy into voice-driven software interfaces. The first thing I do on all my devices is turn the voice recording off. I have a few issues that keep me from giving it a chance. First, it interrupts you when you get a call or notification. I want to choose whether or not to respond to a notification, not have my device decide for me. I have different ringtones for different things and, as such, know immediately if it's a work call that needs to be answered or a message in a group chat with friends that can be checked on when I have a few minutes.

The second issue is that the beginning of voice commands was terrible. You had to say the exact trigger words as clearly as possible with the correct cadence for the software to pick them up. It was far more frustrating than clicking a button or forgoing the action. I wrote them off because of this and I have no idea how much better they work now.

Third is privacy concerns. I don't need my device uploading my voice and saving it to the cloud with all the tech going around to clone voices. I don't like the idea of my software listening to me unprompted as well. It's like carrying around a bug that spies on you all the time under the guise of convenience. No thanks.

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