Quote:
Originally Posted by Traum
Is anyone here really annoyed by Tesla's decision to delete the turn signal stalk and go with steering wheel buttons instead?
From a user interface design / usability point of view, the change was absolutely disastrous. The cardinal rule in UI design / usability studies is -- you almost never want to change a universally accepted and universally adopted standard, and the turn signal stalk is one of those standards. In fact, it pisses me off so much that I can't really see myself getting used to the turn signal buttons if I still have to regularly drive a car with a turn signal stalk. I have a feeling that it might actually put me off enough that I wouldn't be able to get myself into a Tesla.
Or are you all just BMW drivers in disguise, so you never use your turn signals anyway?
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TBH, more often than not, it's about user's stubbornness with what they are familiar with.
Auto vs. stick
backup camera vs. just learn to drive
shifter knob vs. buttons
Look at when iPhone was introduced with no keyboard and no stylus. How many of the biggest names in the tech industry mocked Apple saying "people want a f**** keyboard". And how they mocked when they removed 3.5mm plug? How they mocked Apple when they removed DVD drive from MBP... "that's not PRO!!!"
Look when ICE cars were introduced and horse people were mocking about "where would you find gas?"
The list goes on.
The truth is, that consumers don't usually know what they want. The idea is to find something better, however little, and just present it to the public. Just because something is universally accepted doesn't mean that it's the best way to do it.
The best part is no part. The worst thing to do is to optimize things that shouldn't exist in the first place. Look at BMW's infotainment system. The iDrive system was horrendous, to say the least, and what was the next generation of that? Oh... they added hand gestures to do some stuff like volume control when they literally still have the volume button right there.
I drove a Model S loaner/kinda a test-drive once when I dropped my X for some adjustments. The missing stalk felt weird the first minute, but not unlike when I first got into a car where the gear selection was buttons/knobs instead of a stick/stalk. And to be totally frank... that's how far it goes the "weirdness". After a minute, you knew where it was and that's about it. You don't think about it. It's like when they added the infotainment control to the steering wheel. It was different... the first minute. Then you got used to them and never again did you touch the buttons on the center console.
There's no physical/safety reason for the stalk to be there. It's just how everyone has always done that way.