Research: buttons in cars much better than touchscreens

Square eyes

Screens dominate the life of modern man. Not only in the living room is a big screen, but also at work you stare at it all day long. If you’re not staring at a computer screen, you’re on your phone and in bed at night you have an e-reader in your hands. It’s no different in the car, as these days they’re full of screens too. That looks nice and modern, but is it progress?

Nej

According to the Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare, this is not the case. The Swedish colleagues examined what works better in a car: touchscreens or physical buttons. The car magazine compared the controls of eleven modern cars from different manufacturers and a completely screen-less 17-year-old Volvo V70.

During the test, it was tracked how long it took a driver to perform various simple tasks. It also measured the distance a car traveled that during these actions. The following four tasks were involved:

• Activate the seat heater, increase the temperature by two degrees and start the defogging function
• Turn on the radio and set the station to a specific channel (Sweden’s NPO Radio 1)
• Reset the on-board computer
• Turn the central screen illumination to the lowest level and turn off the infotainment screen.

The test was conducted on an empty airfield, at a speed of 110 km/h. Participants were given time in advance to master the infotainment system to create as fair a playing field as possible.

Results

As expected, the old Volvo V70 came out on top. In just ten seconds, and over a distance of 306 meters, all tasks were completed. By comparison, the driver in a state-of-the-art MG Marvel R needed 44.6 seconds for these tasks, covering a distance of 1,372 meters. More than four times the distance compared to the 2005 Volvo, in other words. A BMW iX and Seat Leon perform better, but don’t come close to the Volvo, literally. During the test, the drivers needed almost a kilometer to perform all tasks in these vehicles.

A Dacia Sandero and Volvo C40 don’t perform badly, while also both have modern screens. However, the infotainment system in these cars is very simple, so you can quickly find the right functions.