Drivers are being forgotten in the push for ever more complex car tech

The world of in-car tech is moving as fast as any area of digital development at the moment, so our car infotainment mega test looked at some different strands to see how they affect, and possibly distract, drivers. 

The most obvious issue is the replacement of control buttons with touchscreens in an attempt to reproduce the smartphone experience in cars. There are various reasons why this works for car brands: cleaner cabins, reduced cost, less heavy wiring running across the car and ever-increasing requirements for more features all make sense. 

But are touchscreens serving the driver, or actually making for a less pleasant experience? 

We took 10 cars with different touchscreen tech, and thoroughly assessed how easy they are to use on the move – within the confines of a test track, of course – in the hands of a trio of testers who have different levels of familiarity with how such systems work. 

Obviously, you’d ideally not use a touchscreen at all while you’re driving, but as more elements are loaded onto screens at the expense of physical buttons, drivers are increasingly finding adjustments to the likes of climate control, audio, maps and other things buried in infotainment menus. Everyone knows it’s dangerous and illegal to use a phone on the move, yet there are no rules regarding touchscreens. And not all displays in new cars are equal. 

As our testing uncovered, 10 cars with different systems prompted very contrasting responses from our judges, with some easier to navigate from behind the wheel than others. 

There’s an argument that familiarity helps when trying to find functions, and there are hacks such as Renault’s handy shortcut button to disengage some driver aids, but they only work if the driver knows about them. Step off a flight into a hire car at Heathrow and you’ll be on the M25, while still trying to shut Radio 1 up, demist the windscreen and turn off the heated seats. So these features need to be usable from the off; behind the wheel isn’t the place for complicated screen swiping. 

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