The Cadillac Your Livery Driver Has Been Dreaming Of (R-27.01)

[jgar the jorrible]

An MSN editorial had some insight:

"...Is that my cell phone buzzing, or the seat?

2013 Cadillac XTS (c) GMCadillac has a good idea here. Instead of annoying
the driver with flashing lights and buzzing sounds from various active
safety systems, it sends all those warnings to his back and rear end. ...

The touch-capacitive dash is another story. See those silver trim pieces
that look like you should touch them? Don't. They're just finger guides. The
actual sensors are above them, which is confusing and frustrating. They're
also slow to respond to repeated inputs, like adjusting the cooled seat or
the fan speed, unless you're deliberate with your pace and timing. Who wants
to think about how you touch a control, especially while driving? Lincoln
already came out with this system and it's no different. It's like tapping a
plastic post and wondering if some magic will happen. You also feel kind of
dumb getting it wrong, which tends to happen when you're paying attention to
the road.

This feature needs to die."

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost.aspx?post=3De29f4907-f964-45f5-818a-69a45340e1e4

Personally, I'm amazed that any UI designer for car controls would even
think of making hand-eye coordination necessary for ancillary controls.  I
can control my old New Beetle radio and HVAC by touch, with very little
learning.  But my other cars with touch screens, any little bump and the
wrong command gets invoked.  And the voice control?  I could go on and on,
but in a nutshell, not there yet, adds frustration.

------------------------------