Autobayng News Team
In-car touchscreens get a lot of wrath, much of it deserved. There’s been heavy backlash against the Tesla-led consolidation of all functions behind touchscreen menus and their cousins, haptic buttons. And automakers are taking notice. Even Volkswagen’s CEO came out against touchscreen menus in certain applications, saying: “I don’t understand why anybody would have [touch-sensitive] sliders.”
So naturally, I was skeptical of the Porsche Cayenne Electric’s giant, folded central touchscreen. Could putting a simple, 45-degree bend in a screen really make it easier to use, or more intuitive?
I was wrong, folks. There is a better way to do an in-car touchscreen, and this is it.
See, the problem with a Tesla-style tablet plopped in the middle of a dashboard isn’t so much the fact that it’s a touchscreen; rather, it’s that it’s a poorly-designed experience. The slab of touch-capacitive glass sits at a uniform angle to the driver, giving no intuitive thought or layout to which functions the driver might need to access on the go. Touching anything requires unnaturally craning your elbow or wrist and taking your eyes off the road—all while squinting at the screen because of glare.
The Cayenne Electric’s curved touchscreen solves many of these problems. Its curved design means the things you need to touch the most—climate controls, music selection, quick settings adjustments, and routing options—are always in the easiest spot to reach. The built-in wrist rest means those controls fall easily to hand. And the upper part of the screen still shows your maps in the spot they’re easiest to see (along with the driver’s cluster and head-up display).
The interface itself is Android-based, with native Google Maps, and it’s intuitive enough to use. The Cayenne’s center console armrest scoots back and forth, so you can rest your elbow on it for an even easier reach.
Photo by: Porsche
This approach isn’t without flaws. I wish there were actual buttons for turning on the heated seats or defrosting the windshield, rather than touch-capacitive ones. But given the myriad of features, drive modes, and settings Porsche built into this car, I don’t see how it could’ve avoided putting some of them behind a touchscreen. Thankfully, there are still rockers for climate temperature and fan speed, as well as a volume roller and hard buttons on the steering wheel.
I’m cautiously optimistic about interfaces like this, along with BMW’s pillar-to-pillar Panoramic Vision display, which embrace technology while focusing on ease of use. The era of bigger-for-its-own-sake may finally be over when it comes to in-car screens.
When the last grafted-on dashboard tablet goes the way of the carphone in favor of smarter touchscreens like this, I will say: Good riddance.
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