<story><title>Renault&apos;s driver UX is a disaster waiting to happen</title><url>https://grumpy.website/post/0S6F8ozn5</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zoomablemind</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not sure how much the UI is indeed at play here, rather than the User&amp;#x27;s state. The keyword here is &amp;#x27;rental&amp;#x27;. This seems to just amplify grumpiness.&lt;p&gt;Picking  a rented car, I normally don&amp;#x27;t spend much effort trying to figure out all features. Just basics - adjust the seat, the mirrors, reset the trip, rarely link up the phone. Touch-n-go.&lt;p&gt;It always gets irritating later, as I would try to figure some needed feature while already on the go. Climate, radio, what&amp;#x27;s that beeping, which side is the fuel port (while already pulling to the pump), the curiously long-lasting  parfum on the seat-belt from the previous renter at times triggering unexpected memories...&lt;p&gt;I guess, it&amp;#x27;s just a mild form of self-inflicted road rage. RTFM would be an easy answer, but we all know how that works out.</text></item><item><author>amatecha</author><text>Yeah, I&amp;#x27;ve rented latest-model Renault and Peugeot cars in Europe and I cannot believe this stuff.  It&amp;#x27;s probably same in new North American vehicles, but I haven&amp;#x27;t driven those.&lt;p&gt;This Peugeot 308 was trying to kill me with its &amp;quot;lane assist&amp;quot; in a construction zone, forcefully steering the car towards the concrete barrier because the painted lines on the road were tapering towards the concrete barrier (due to the construction).  I finally found out how to turn that off _after_ nearly being killed.&lt;p&gt;Make my car less like a desktop computer, please.&lt;p&gt;My favorite is _waiting for the car to boot up_ so I can turn on the air conditioning in the sweltering heat :)&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also the joy of fumbling through terribly-designed touch screen menus so you can turn off the radio that for some reason auto-tuned to some nearby station.  Since my FM transmitter wasn&amp;#x27;t broadcasting audio I guess the car just decides it needs to get something pumping through the speakers ASAP.&lt;p&gt;The other hilarious thing is the cruise control pretty much slamming on the brakes because someone merged into my lane 300m+ ahead (not even slightly at risk of driving into them because they are about the same speed as me).  I guess the system that detects an obstruction ahead cannot tell that it&amp;#x27;s moving at the same speed as me.  Not surprising, but regardless, can I please be the driver of the vehicle?&lt;p&gt;Oh yeah and how about those software-driven dash gauges that feel like they have a full second of latency?  The ability to customize the UI skin is something I want for WinAmp, not my car&amp;#x27;s tachometer and speedometer.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>quanticle</author><text>That reinforces the article&amp;#x27;s point. Having a car as a rental allows you to see its UI foibles without the blinders that inevitably come down when people are forced to adapt to some problem over a long period of time. And like the OP says, the UI of most modern cars is &lt;i&gt;horrendously bad&lt;/i&gt;. For example, my personal car is a 2019 Subaru Legacy. I rather like it. But there&amp;#x27;s no way to make it start with the stereo off. If the car is on, the stereo is on. The only way to turn the audio off is to twist the volume knob all the way down to zero before you turn off the car.&lt;p&gt;When I first had the car, I found this to be totally ridiculous. Whoever heard of a car that automatically turns on the radio when it starts? But, after having had the car for a month, the problem is already fading, as I&amp;#x27;ve developed a habit of turning the volume down before I turn off the car. At this rate, six months from now, like you, I&amp;#x27;ll be &lt;i&gt;defending&lt;/i&gt; this anti-feature. (Hey, you&amp;#x27;re going to turn the radio on anyway when you drive, so why not have the car do it for you on startup?)&lt;p&gt;I agree that the key word is rental, but my conclusion is exactly the opposite of yours. The fact that this is an unfamiliar rental is what is allowing the OP to see the issues with the car&amp;#x27;s UX clearly. If the car were his daily driver, he&amp;#x27;d have adapted to it, and he wouldn&amp;#x27;t notice himself getting distracted.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.subaruxvforum.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;interior-audio-hvac&amp;#x2F;146089-turning-radio-off-so-will-stay-off.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.subaruxvforum.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;interior-audio-hvac&amp;#x2F;1460...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Renault&apos;s driver UX is a disaster waiting to happen</title><url>https://grumpy.website/post/0S6F8ozn5</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zoomablemind</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not sure how much the UI is indeed at play here, rather than the User&amp;#x27;s state. The keyword here is &amp;#x27;rental&amp;#x27;. This seems to just amplify grumpiness.&lt;p&gt;Picking  a rented car, I normally don&amp;#x27;t spend much effort trying to figure out all features. Just basics - adjust the seat, the mirrors, reset the trip, rarely link up the phone. Touch-n-go.&lt;p&gt;It always gets irritating later, as I would try to figure some needed feature while already on the go. Climate, radio, what&amp;#x27;s that beeping, which side is the fuel port (while already pulling to the pump), the curiously long-lasting  parfum on the seat-belt from the previous renter at times triggering unexpected memories...&lt;p&gt;I guess, it&amp;#x27;s just a mild form of self-inflicted road rage. RTFM would be an easy answer, but we all know how that works out.</text></item><item><author>amatecha</author><text>Yeah, I&amp;#x27;ve rented latest-model Renault and Peugeot cars in Europe and I cannot believe this stuff.  It&amp;#x27;s probably same in new North American vehicles, but I haven&amp;#x27;t driven those.&lt;p&gt;This Peugeot 308 was trying to kill me with its &amp;quot;lane assist&amp;quot; in a construction zone, forcefully steering the car towards the concrete barrier because the painted lines on the road were tapering towards the concrete barrier (due to the construction).  I finally found out how to turn that off _after_ nearly being killed.&lt;p&gt;Make my car less like a desktop computer, please.&lt;p&gt;My favorite is _waiting for the car to boot up_ so I can turn on the air conditioning in the sweltering heat :)&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also the joy of fumbling through terribly-designed touch screen menus so you can turn off the radio that for some reason auto-tuned to some nearby station.  Since my FM transmitter wasn&amp;#x27;t broadcasting audio I guess the car just decides it needs to get something pumping through the speakers ASAP.&lt;p&gt;The other hilarious thing is the cruise control pretty much slamming on the brakes because someone merged into my lane 300m+ ahead (not even slightly at risk of driving into them because they are about the same speed as me).  I guess the system that detects an obstruction ahead cannot tell that it&amp;#x27;s moving at the same speed as me.  Not surprising, but regardless, can I please be the driver of the vehicle?&lt;p&gt;Oh yeah and how about those software-driven dash gauges that feel like they have a full second of latency?  The ability to customize the UI skin is something I want for WinAmp, not my car&amp;#x27;s tachometer and speedometer.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>RayVR</author><text>You&amp;#x27;re really ignoring the main point that the tech in these machines makes them more difficult to use and less intuitive.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m wondering how many cars you drove that did not have any screens. Having grown up during a time when the most sophisticated display was the LCD for the radio station, I can assure you car interfaces are getting worse.&lt;p&gt;Japanese cars used to be my favorite because they had consistent manual interfaces across models. Perhaps Renault and Peugeot have always had bad design but the digitization of the interfaces and the software that&amp;#x27;s now controlling some aspects of the actual driving makes them more dangerous.</text></comment>