One thing I've seen in reviews of the system being sold in the Auto eTron is that it's much harder to get a good idea of speed and depth on the rear view camera screens. I really wonder whether this can really be overcome. It'll be interesting to see whether this will become as common as touch screens have become.
And, in addition, one can use one's stereoscopic vision with a mirror. Even if that does not provide much information about vehicle distance and speed (though it feels to me as though it does), a screen gives false stereoscopic information.
Yeah, I saw that. I have to admit, that's a hell of a lot better than I thought it was going to be, especially if the voice commands work. I would still rather be able to see the speed without looking all the way down to the touchscreen, but I suppose that's what after market is for. I really like those holographic displays that show the speed right on the windshield. Or I could just use an old phone.
I had the pleasure of trying new all electric Q3 or something. It had cameras instead of windows and I did not like them at all
I felt that first the screen location was wrong. Outside the car is more where I am supposed to look anyway, instead of akward down from windows. I will have to concentrate more when looking at the screen, for my brain to register what is happening, instead of glance at the mirrow. Maybe it's to do with focal points, maybe it's still a screen. My eyes work better registering movement in the corner of my eyes on mirrows than on screens.
I don't think that there are any cars that are accessible in the way you've mentioned. It seems like too niche of a use case in exchange for more complexity and time to develop. These systems are usually built for drivers first and foremost, so them being able to see is an assumption that most can make.
Couldn't they use that fancy LCD screen to show what the autopilot sees (or an approximation of it) for the next 150 feet or so? At least then you'd know if you were about to plow into a barrier.
Having the rendered car's view visible to passengers inside is a very great idea for at least the first couple generations of self-driving cars, and especially being as prominent as they are in this car. It helps get people comfortable with the idea, and feel better knowing the car is picking up on everything in its surroundings.
I'm a bit skeptical about if those are real graphics though -- they look quite detailed beyond what I feel the 'sensors' can see, but maybe I just underestimate this technology.
The screens are also (unfortunately) a great place to blast ads at a quite literally "captive" audience, but I digress.
For speed I agree. It would be way more
useful to use the same space for a large numeric
display and then I almost don’t need to refocus on it, it may be in peripheral vision while looking at the road.
For fuel, meh. Just need to know if it is close to the bottom or not and if the light is on.
I don't like it at all. Personally, I want a screen that displays the speed and the battery status directly in my line of vision, not on an LCD screen off to the right that you can't read in direct sunlight.
I drive a Mini Cooper from time to time and it's not great. They have a small screen behind the wheel which also displays the speed, but with a low refresh rate so you can go over the limit easily if you don't pay attention.
They list a lot of potentially useful applications on the product's own web site. I wonder how long it will take for this sort of technology to be commercially viable for things like night vision driving aids. High-end executive cars have started to include night vision cameras now, but they're typically monochrome, small-screen affairs. I would think that projecting an image of this sort of clarity onto some sort of large windscreen HUD would be a huge benefit to road safety at night. Of course, if actually useful self-driving cars have taken over long before it's cost-effective to include a camera like this in regular vehicles, it's less interesting from that particular point of view.
2D + depth. We can tell how far away the car in front of us is, but it occludes our view of cars in front of it. That’s good enough to drive, but suboptimal. If you were designing a user interface meant to show someone the positions of cars on roads – i.e. a map – you would use a bird’s-eye view, since roads are mostly 2D from that perspective.
Perhaps you missed the part where rendering of the cameras affects distance perception substantially? I easily see these drivers losing track of lanes, especially turning.
> I could honestly see them being a net positive to road focus by overlaying speed and navigation on the user's field of vision so they don't have to glance at their dash speedometer or navigation device all the time.
I get that with the HUD on my Audi and Lincoln with far less concerns.
> but it would take all of a second to whip the headset off if it suddenly went blank for some reason
The only way you're taking off the headset in "all of a second" is with zero concern for it landing on the floor or behind you or etc. Any care at all is 2-3 seconds.
That's around 100 ft. At lot happens there.
> most drivers regularly experience worse obstructions than that hypothetical one
Next time you're in a car close your eyes for 3 seconds (in the passenger seat) while paying attention to surroundings to get a feel for it, or take a video.
You are drastically underestimating things. Most drivers do not regularly get 1-3 second distractions and obstructions.
That may be a matter of perception, but that's the problem. Back in the day, surveys asked people how long Michael "Air" Jordan's "hangtime" (the length of time you spend in the air after jumping) was, and they gave numbers like 2-3 seconds.
In fact, the average hangtime is 0.53s, and the longest recorded is 0.9s.
Similarly, fun fact, 83% of drivers believe they are "above average".
The technology is almost certainly there to very aggressively monitor "eyes on the road" and quickly blare alarms if they aren't. It's probably fair to say that would be a very unpopular auto feature.
The display is not a great indicator of what the car "sees". Ideally the display would reassure the passenger, but you could totally solve self driving without solving this UX problem.
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