I was reminded recently of technology obsolescence when jumping behind the wheel of a maximalist (is that the opposite of minimalist?) dash on a rental car. I spent a good part of 15 minutes clearing previous settings and saved items, re-learning the basic navigation (and built-in GPS) settings, audio, seat controls and more before putting the car in gear and driving away.
Although I gave up on and decided not to use many of the car’s controls within a dozen or so miles, I remain amazed how the built-in GPS has become utterly useless. My mobile phone’s apps and maps were eminently usable and current. The recent model year car’s built-in GPS couldn’t locate my hotel built-in 2019 in a major urban city!
The space the screen consumed on the dashboard, the car’s numerous buttons on the touchscreen, dashboard AND by the gearshift were an exercise in ridiculously poor customer experience and wasted opportunity. The center console, stuffed with buttons, some duplicated on the steering with others labeled in confusing and non-standard ways confounded me further.
The sad part is that this late model year crossover from a ‘luxury’ carmaker was as much (or more) confusing than our 2015 Acura MDX, itself a victim of poor dash design, TWO 6-inch monitors, and a GPS UI that’s reminiscent of the early 2000s.
The following have outlived their useful life on car dashboards and are beyond need of retirement. They just need euthanized:
1. Built-in GPS (and the $149 fee for the dealership to ‘load’ the map updates!
2. Dare I say, car dealership cartels!
3. Custom voice interfaces – Siri, Alexa, and Google won.
4. Radio station presets. The rental’s largest and most prominent buttons were the six radio presets.
5. Steering control for anything but voice command, volume, and possibly cruise control.
6. OBD port. Why not show the output directly to the screen(s)?
7. Single device Bluetooth. We know cars frequently have two or more passengers. Do we really need to be connected to only a single device?
8. Low wattage USB ports. Drivers and passengers routinely carry multiple devices with larger, hungrier batteries that demand charge. Why, then are built-in chargers still delivering barely 0.5-1 amps?
Legacy carmakers – Are you innovating or sleeping at the wheel?