Video: How touch screen controls in cars should work

If you have a (relatively) new car, the center stack is probably flawed. You’d hoped for something sleek and intuitive, and instead, you wound up with Lieutenant Uhura’s computer from Star Trek: lots of bells and whistles that don’t seem to do much of anything.

This is a major problem, and solving it ranks among the biggest challenges facing today’s car companies. Our vehicles themselves may be better built than they once were, but as systems like Ford’s popular but much-loathed MyFord Touch demonstrate, our infotainment features are ready for the scrap heap.

Enter designer Matthaeus Krenn, who bemoans the fact that automakers “merely replicate old button layouts and shapes on these new, flat, glowing surfaces” littering today’s dashboards. In his notes for the video embedded above, Krenn says:

I propose a new mode that can be invoked at any time: It clears the entire screen of those tiny, intangible control elements and makes way for big, forgiving gestures that can be performed anywhere. In place of the lost tactile feedback, the interface leverages the driver’s muscle memory to ensure their ability to control crucial features without taking their eyes off the road.

Which sounds great, until you see what he’s actually proposed.

Is Krenn’s prototype beautiful? Absolutely. It looks like something out of Logan’s Run or Tron (high praise, back in the day). It would make a fantastic control panel for your in-home thermostat, lighting, and stereo.

Could it work in a car? Yes, but it would probably kill you.

We understand how Krenn’s interface works. We appreciate the way that it’s designed to be adaptive, so that it works no matter where you first touch it. Eventually, we could get used to its one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-finger controls.

But learning the system would take time, and we could envision many occasions when we meant to turn up the a/c but instead cranked up the Def Leppard. Also, we think he’s being far too optimistic when he suggest that a user could flip through her entire song catalog without glancing over at the screen.

And heaven forbid one of your parents should get a car with Krenn’s interface. You thought teaching them AOL was hard?

Most suitable car for Nigerian Roads: Lets Have your say People

Hi guys,

I have worked and lived in most Nigerian major cities- Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan…. From my observation, the most popular car vehicle in nigerian roads today is 1998 Toyota Camry “Pencil”.

The question remains: What model and type of car do you consider to be the best for use on Nigerian roads?

 

1st made in Nigeria cars by Nissan to role out in April

The first set of Made in Nigeria 4×4  SUVs will be rolled out by Nissan Motors in April this year.
nissan Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motors, Carlos Ghosn, disclosed this to President Goodluck Jonathan on the sideline of ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Ghosn, who said the vehicles would be rolled out of the old Volkswagen Assembly plant in Lagos, noted it was possible to produce two to three million cars in Nigeria annually.
According to him, this will lead to creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the country.
He also told President Jonathan that Nissan intended to increase its investment in Nigeria and establish its own production plant in the country.
“We are interested in producing popular cars , totally adapted to the needs of Nigerians,” Ghosn told the President, adding that the company also planned to bring its global suppliers to make vehicle components in the country.
In his remarks, President Jonathan reiterated that the diligent implementation of the country’s new national automotive policy would rapidly develop Nigeria’s automobile industry.

Full Year 2012 Top 7 brands Ranking Table below.

Nigeria Full Year 2012:

Pos     Carmaker     2012     %     /11     2011     %     Pos
1     Toyota     19,755     40.7%     30%     15,238     29.7%     1
2     Kia     5,034     10.4%     n/a     n/a     n/a     2
3     Hyundai     4,259     8.8%     n/a     n/a     n/a     3
4     Ford     2,613     5.4%     4%     2,523     4.9%     4
5     Honda     2,473     5.1%     58%     1,562     3.0%     7
6     Mitsubishi Fuso     2,088     4.3%     10%     1,898     3.7%     5
7     Nissan     954     2.0%     -46%     1,772     3.5%     6

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com

Next Mazdaspeed3 could go naturally aspirated?

Mazda-3-MPS_3

The new Mazda3 is a stunner, both aesthetically and from a driving perspective. As with all good things, though, there’s always room for improvement. That’s where the wizards from Mazdaspeed come in. Mazda’s in-house tuner has been tweaking and turbocharging the five-door Mazda3 since 2007, with impressive results.

We’ve shown you renderings of what the third-generation Mazdaspeed3 could look like, and for the most part your response was quite positive. Now, TimeFuse Automotive has come out with details of just what might be under that long hood. According to our friends across the pond, the new Mazda3 MPS (that’s what the Speed3 is called in Her Majesty’s auto industry) will be arriving with a new, high-revving, naturally aspirated engine. Wait, what?

Yes, if the rumors are to be believed, the next Mazdaspeed3 will ditch its turbocharger. According to an anonymous engineer, the new MS3 will arrive in December (this is for the UK market, mind you) with a 200-horsepower, naturally aspirated engine. The 2.0-liter mill is based on the Skyactiv engine in the new 3, and should be capable of a sub-seven-second run to 62 miles per hour.

Now, we strongly encourage you to take these rumors with a grain of salt. There are a lot of things that don’t add up here. With 200 horsepower, the new Speed3 would be down over 50 horsepower on the original model. It’d also be easily outgunned by the competition from Ford, Subaru, and Volkswagen. And what about torque? The only way we can see a 200-horsepower Mazdaspeed3 working is if it weight is dramatically reduced. Considering weight savings is a tenet of Mazda’s Skyactiv philosophy, that seems like a possibility.

We’re still a long way from the new Mazdaspeed3’s debut, and a lot can change between now and then. What do you think – does a Mazdaspeed3 work without a turbo? Would you buy one with the more powerful alternatives available? Let us know in the comments.