[SystemSafety] AVs vs. driver aids ... some more WTF questions

[Steve Tockey]

Olwen,
Most of the explanations are quite simple. Read “The Inmates are Running the Assylum” by Alan Cooper. The basic premise is:

*) if you let human factors people design user interfaces, you will get user interfaces that are easy to use but very difficult to build.

*) If you let technical people design user interfaces, you will get user interfaces that are easy to build but difficult to use.

The proof is left to the reader of which of these two cases applies to the cars you refer to. . . 


FWIW, self-driving cars scare the crap out of me, too. The avionics community, to a lesser degree the medical software community, and to an even to a lesser degree MISRA have all gained a ton of knowledge and practical experience on how to make safe(r) systems. The self-driving car people are seriously deluded if they think they can ignore all of that.


— steve 


发自我的 iPad

> On Jul 23, 2019, at 5:02 AM, Olwen Morgan <olwen at phaedsys.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Folks here will have gathered that I regard AVs as a kind of modern plague - in part because of jaded experiences with much simpler technology. A few weeks ago I posted some gripes about driver aids in a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. Here are some gripes about a Ford Grand C Max:
> 
> 
> 1.    Speed limiter settings are in multiples of 5. Cruise control setting can be done in units. Why the lack of orthogonality?
> 
> 2.    Engagement of both speed limiter and cruise control uses the same buttons that also set the relevant speed on SL or CC engagement. Why the functional overloading of the setting switch?
> 
> 3.    The overall Set/Cancel function for Sl and CC has a button right next to the Set+ and Set- buttons for speeds. Also the buttons feel almost identical to the touch. Why no salient haptic distinction?
> 
> 4.    The road speed limit display is on the central console and not the driver display on which SL and CC set speeds are shown? Why separate them?
> 
> 5.    The road speed limit display is often inaccurate and usually errs by showing too high a figure. WTF?
> 
> 6.    The driver display shows dark grey on black when SL and CC are set but not engaged. It is difficult to read in low light conditions. Why such an obvious error?
> 
> 7.    The auditory SL overspeed warning is often inaudible above cabin noise. I haven't yet found a way to increase the volume. Also the audio system does not suppress other sound when the auditory warning is triggered. WTF?
> 
> 8.    On overspeed when Sl is engaged (which can occur going downhill as their is no SL-triggered braking), the set speed flashes on and off as a white numeral on a black background. It would have been trivially easy to make it toggle between red on a white background and white on a red background, thus making it much more salient to the driver. Did this not occur to any of the HMI designers?
> 
> 9.     There is no differential on-screen colour keying to distinguish whether Sl or CC is engaged.
> 
> 10.    The central console faces straight to the rear and is not angled towards the driver. As it happens, this is not too bad because all functions are within reach but it does involve more reaching than would otherwise be the case.
> 
> 11.    There is a steering wheel heater - presumably to cheer you up after the rudimentary HMI howlers listed above?
> 
> 
> ... and this industry expects us to believe that they'll get AVs right?
> 
> 
> ROTFLMAO,
> 
> Olwen
> 
> 
> 
> 
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