The auto industry is adding electrification and humongous touch screens while removing all the knobs. Another annoying trend is how one selects a gear. Crystal levers, rotary knobs and push buttons are taking over. Even traditional looking gearshifts have more in common with joysticks, popping back to a center position after a gear has been selected. (Which in my mind, breaks the mental model of clear selection.) Autoblog wrote some thoughts about the matter.
I would fathom voice controlled or touch screen shifting is nigh. Here are just a few of the variants seen at this year’s auto show in Cincinnati above.
A few more notes: Honda and Mazda are on point with their latest interiors and right mix of screens and knobs. Mazda leans more lux but the new Accord and CRV are a step above previous generations.
I finally sat in a Hyundai IONIC 5 and had headroom. The interior was very light though and I worry about that long term.
Still didn’t fit in a Mazda CX-50, which is a bummer.
Another year, another car show in the books. I do feel bad for valets — all these gizmos have got to make it difficult to simply park a vehicle.
