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"To shift into drive, reverse, or park, Tesla owners will need to use their car's touchscreen.โ€

Look, touchscreens in vehicles are horrible:

1. It's really hard to hit the right area on the screen when the vehicle is moving, because you have nowhere to rest your hand to steady it.
2. I don't want to take off my gloves to turn anything off or on. No, "use special tactile gloves" is not a solution, because they are expensive, you can't be very precise while wearing them, and they gradually lose that magic touch over time as you wear them and get them grimy.
3. No, "use voice commands" is not a great alternative. Try yelling "turn off defrosters" loud enough to be heard over the noise of those defrosters.
4. I shouldn't need to wear my reading glasses to operate a vehicle. Progressive lenses are not an option for many due to cost and bifocals remove a large chunk of the vision field that you need for actual driving.

So, please let's all collectively move past the point where touchscreens are used for anything other than infotainment and GPS.

https://i.insider.com/64f77b8c7819260019119931?width=1200&format=jpeg
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@monsieuricon
5. "Are you sure that you want to change to reverse gear? Yes / No / Cancel / Help"

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@monsieuricon
6. "Since you don't have a premium subscription, please watch this 30 second ad before changing gears"

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@dartov Regulation in Canada/EU may be the driving force behind the change back to more ergonomic controls -- at least one can hope. I'm 99.9% sure my next car won't be a Tesla (better options exist today that didn't in 2020 when we got ours, plus these days new Teslas come with that Musky smell that you can't get rid of).
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@monsieuricon @dartov dude if you buy a tesla I will never buy you a pint.

Do the right thing!
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@ljs @dartov The right thing right now is not to buy a new car if the old car is still working just fine. :)
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@monsieuricon @dartov 'working just fine' can have a wide range of meanings

I had an old vauxhall that worked 'just fine' until the engine stopped responding to commands and revved without being told to
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@monsieuricon @dartov (there is an analogy to the kernel here somehow ;)
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@monsieuricon I would go one step further, the physical controls should have tactical feedback. Anyone who has tried to get a Model 3 (with a physical gear shift) into neutral at an automatic car wash by tapping a little, but not too much, on the gear shift while the wheels are being pulled forward can explain.

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@dartov @monsieuricon yes regulation (typically eu should take that ball and chew it until nothing remains of touchscreen for anything but infotainment).

And insentives like what euro ncap staeted to advertise : https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/03/carmakers-must-bring-back-buttons-to-get-good-safety-scores-in-europe/

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