Comment by sagarm

13 days ago

Backup cameras are an enormous safety improvement. Plus touchscreens are much cheaper than buttons and knobs.

> Backup cameras are an enormous safety improvement.

Sure, however....

> Plus touchscreens are much cheaper than buttons and knobs.

And how much LESS safe is using a touchscreen while operating a motor vehicle? Its literally no different from using an iPad.

  • There are large implementation differences in touch screens. My wife's care needs several second: turn the radio on, wait for the splash screen, press the drives heat control, wait for it to appear (100s of ms - long enough to notice) then find the button in the miedle of the screen - finally I can change the heated seats. My car that button is always has the button at the bottom of the screen in the same place so is is ms to look and see.

    • You still lose the tactile feedback of the button though. It's much harder to hit it while not looking versus a physical knob.

      There's a reason Euro NCAP requires physical climate controls for ca models to get a five star safety rating starting in 2026.

Backup cameras are an enormous safety improvement.

You know that a backup camera can be added to practically any car right? My ~2002 Toyota has a Pioneer deck from around 2007 (I guess?) that supports reversing camera input. My wifes 2012 Toyota hybrid has a reversing camera using some POS cheap Chinese deck that's so shit it doesn't even support Bluetooth audio.

No part of reversing cameras are dependent on any of the "modern" trends in cars that are being discussed here.