Foursprung: Car controllers evolve

The more electronic gadgets a car contains the more difficult it becomes to take control about all the functions. Read here about different approaches from different car makers to take control over electronics.

A shiny aluminum knob less than 2 inches high is an unlikely lightning rod, unless you're talking about the BMW iDrive cockpit controller. The iDrive became a metaphor for all that's been unworkable in technology-centric cars of the past decade. But the cockpit controller is here to stay. iDrive competitors are coming to market, improving the genre and even forcing the iDrive to evolve.
The concept behind the cockpit controller is simple: One control wheel and an LCD take the place of the several dozen knobs and dials that clutter dashboards. Since the early 1990s, most commercial airplanes adopted this type of "glass cockpit," reducing the number of switches and the complexity faced by pilots. And automakers often think of their cabins as grounded aircraft cockpits -- BMW's blue-and-white logo, for example, is patterned on a spinning airplane propeller. So BMW introduced the first car controller, the flawed iDrive, and is now hard at work on a follow-up.


The problem with the first iDrive, beyond the cool-looking but slippery controller knob, was that it went too far in removing dashboard switches and relied too much on the controller. People want to switch from FM to CD with one button, not three layers down in a menu. Audi, Infiniti, and now Mercedes have created cockpit controllers that do a better job than BMW's, in part because they learned from the iDrive's shortcomings.
With the initial iDrive in the BMW 7 Series (in 2001), you had to slide the controller in one of eight compass directions to make your initial selection, turn, and then click. That made for a confusing number of choices: The learning curve took weeks or months. The newer iDrive has just four directions: Communication, Navigation, Entertainment, Climate. Recently, BMW has been running focus groups to test concepts that sound more like Audi and Infiniti's approach: adding task or pre-fetch buttons.
Audi's MMI (multimedia interface, shown at left) was a big step forward. The Audi control knob isn't quite as showy as the iDrive, but it's easier to grip and has eight task buttons around the controller: Radio, CD, Net (communications but not Web browsing, sorry), Tel, Nav, Info, Car, and Setup. You just press one of the eight buttons and then fine-tune your choices with the control knob.
Infiniti's wonderful M45 (below right) has the same kinds of task buttons, except that the control knob and buttons are mounted on a slope on the dash, giving you a place to rest your palm. Palm rests are an excellent addition to these types of controllers. If only Chrysler and Ford had added one to the system control stick that juts from the dash on some of their models. Mercedes got it right, with the gorgeous controller palm rest in its new S-Class vehicles.
I find Audi's MMI preferable to Infiniti's busy layout. The Audi gear has some brilliant touches. Need silence suddenly? Slap your palm anywhere to the left of the MMI controller and quickly mute the sound. A nifty roller control on the steering wheel provides fast access to more precise volume control.
Buttons aside, though, the cockpit controller is your primary path into the cockpit LCD. Here the Infiniti outclasses both Audi and BMW. Most cars move just a handful of functions to the LCD, but the Infiniti moves virtually everything. Better still, the most common screen you'll use while driving neatly integrates navigation, audio, climate control, and phone information. Sheer brilliance.
What else is needed? Sun-blocking hoods above those LCD screens. More LCD screens to replace the discrete gauges on the dashboard. And how about online help? Embed a short form of the owner's manual, along with any quick-start guides (such as how to start and stop a hybrid car) into the online systems. Put a help key next to the LCD screen. And perhaps a start-up tutorial that teaches you how to use the cockpit controller. Perhaps with a little more online help for drivers, BMW's first iDrive might not have been such a disaster.

Is it any wonder that the Audi MMI is preferred?

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR

Source: Technoride

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