While many car manufacturers run to remove physical controls in favor of the entire interior, according to BMW, BMW is directed by real usage data collected by millions of vehicles. According to the company, this data decide which functions earn a permanent physical button – and which can be safely lived on a touchscreen or can be treated by voice. In the press of the press, Stephan Durach, Senior Vice President UI/UX development of BMW, gave us a little more insight into the intelligent way how the brand brings the buttons on the way.
“We have ten million cars out there,” Durach begins. He says the car manufacturer gets a “rather detailed” look at what consumers use – and, which may be even more important, when and how. In direct result, things like the once pioneer -IDRIVE controller have dramatically declined when the drivers hike to contact and language entrances. For functions such as navigation, media browsing or personalization, the research of BMW now show that customers now prefer more well -known interaction methods. “We really made this about statistical data about the type of element we use,” says Durach. “The decision of what we take out, what we think was based on statistical user data.”
The statistics and data are also the reason why you find the most frequently used functions in the cabin within one second. For example, controls that are assigned to the steering wheel are only those who use almost every trip to customers. On the one hand, volume and media controls. On the other hand, adas and driving aid characteristics are. By placing these controls at the front and in the middle, they provide a few things. Especially the distraction of the driver to a minimum. Second, it is intuitive. At the front and middle are probably the first place where you are looking for these functions.
Not all buttons disappear
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to remove every button,” says Durach. Some functions are not negotiable. The steering wheel, the seat, the hazard light, the mirror and the window control remain physically, since the analysis of BMW is used constantly and instinctively. The volume dial is another facility that BMW claims that you simply have no replacement in sight. This is even more surprising when you consider that it is one of a few functions three Redundances installed in them. (Steering wheel, physical dial, touch – possibly even voice?)
Nevertheless, Durach admits that the loss of keys influences usability for some drivers. When asked whether it is “mostly nostalgia” or an actual loss of function that leads to complaints about buttons that disappear from the cabin, he says: “It is a mix. At the end of the day we always try to do this based on data.” Other singing critics have convicted the removal of buttons. BMW believes that his data -oriented approach will ultimately pay dividends. The brand says that this approach in combination with the panoramic view display is the best way to preserve the driver’s commitment. Time will say.
