European car safety body is coming for touchscreens. The European New Car Assessment Programme mandates that key controls need physical buttons or switches

to mandate that five of a car's primary controls — its horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, hazard warning lights and SOS features — will need physical buttons or switches.
Good, but would be great if climate control, volume/mute, and other things that need frequent adjustment while driving were also part of the mandate.
- and opening the fucking doors
  
  Is this some tesla thing or what?
- Car seat adjustment, above seat vehicle interior lights, steering wheel adjustment, door handles, door locks, main rear view mirror, climate controls for vents and seats, car starting, and trunk and seat releases should all have controls that can be operated either directly or with physical buttons.
  If there is ALSO a screen driven element, that’s fine, but this stuff needs to work without a screen.
  This stuff is not being done for the sake of UX. It is for saving money at the expense of consumer safety.
  
  This stuff is not being done for the sake of UX. It is for saving money at the expense of consumer safety.
  This. Everyone, keep your eye on the ball.
  
  I can see the case for some of them after you’ve been in a crash (although if the pyro fuse has blown, not much requiring switches will work anymore, regardless of the type of controls), but if you want physical controls for the rear view mirror for safety, you should probably start adjusting that before you start driving.
  Same for cabin lights, whatever you’re doing that needs the lights on should probably be done stationary, if you care about safety.
  
  If you are operating any of these while driving, you are doing something wrong
  
  You shouldn't be adjusting your seats, steering wheel, and mirrors while driving. Interior lights neither, they should be off if you need them you're not looking at the road. Climate control is also non-critical all that might be annoying but you don't need to do it while driving. "car starting" isn't really a thing with many cars any more, even gasoline ones, they switch the motor off automatically when you're standing for a while and start once you select a gear, hit the throttle, whatever.
  Door handles though I absolutely agree, it's a safety thing: You can make them fancy schmancy electric all you want but they also have to open the lock mechanically, e.g. by pulling the lever with some force none of that Tesla "open the maintenance hatch and find a steel cable to pull on".
- What controls do you need to operate the car?
  I though everything the article mentions is already a physical control, like horn and windshield wipers.
  It’s only temperature that is digital.
- Exactly! Climate, audio, seats and mirrors controls also must be physical as they are more or less directly related to safety
- Eh, I think this strikes the perfect balance where it ensures safety while not stifling innovation. Touchscreens are bad, and the consensus around that is growing. But the solution might not be a return to physical buttons, there are many possibilities and some might turn out easier and safer.
  
  If you're implicitly suggesting voice commands or throwing "AI" into the mix, I would dare say that's worse.

I love living in Europe.
- I'm sincerely appreciative of everything they do for consumers as a whole. Not everything makes it across the pond but at the very least it sets precedent and a lot of the groundwork is done if our politicians ever decide to get their shit together and give us a ground to stand on against corporations and lobbyists.
  A guy can dream.
  
  I hope that happens too.
- except of course for the blatant racism against non-western people, the current shift towards neofash politics (meloni etc), the militarization and the impeding economic collapse.
  how do liberals manage to ignore problems so efficiently?
  
  except of course for the blatant racism against non-western people, the current shift towards neofash politics (meloni etc), the militarization and the impeding economic collapse.
  All of which already happen in the US, but worse.
  The entire world sucks, can’t we be happy of living in a place that sucks a bit less?
  
  Racism? Sure there is some racism but Europe is hella diverse bro.
  I live in the UK and I’m proud that Manchester is multi-cultural. Don’t listen to the headlines, most of us ain’t racist.
  Where you from dude? Just wondering if you should or should not be throwing stones at glass houses.
- As long as you're not fr*nch
- Except for the blatant racism, i could do without that.
  
  racist cowards be downvoting

Using your phone while driving is illegal, so we made all the controls on the same technology.
Genius. About time it's banned.
- My favorite is the warning to not look at the screen, which you have to acknowledge to get it to go away.
- To be fair, using phones while driving was banned in most countries back when phones still had physical buttons.
  
  And the swap from physical buttons, which you can use by feel and that never change their location, to touch controls made this less of an issue?

Nice to see EU policy finally flourishing now that they're no longer getting nerfed by the UK's membership.
- This is the truth. The EU is much more efficient without the UK.
  
  What made the UK such a hindrance for the EU?
- True that. There have been so many wins in just a few years.
  
  Also trying to regulate encryption... but the UK tried to do that itself too.

Touch controls in a car is definitely up there among the absolute dumbest ideas of the century.

Car models will have to comply to get NCAP’s coveted five-star rating. The scheme is voluntary but is heeded by most automakers because it’s closely monitored by consumers.
Bollocks. F*ck this shit. Make it mandatory and take those ticking time bombs of the road. They are endangering OTHER people's lives. Voluntary my ass.
- This is faster than passing a law. Do this first then work on legislation in parallel.
  Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
  
  Don't let morons operate deadly machinery, FTFY.

Fucking good. Long overdue.
I love some EVs, but I drove a Polestar 2 and a Model 3 on road trips for work in California. Never again. The nighttime driving experience is miserable imo, and the issues with the lack of stalks and buttons is real.
The Polestar is the only car to ever make me so angry I had to pull over. It had some kind of sensor issue, and decided the right way to notify my at 80mph on the highway was to A) cover my gate cluster with the error notification B) disengage my cruise control suddenly, at 80mph, and C) begin beeping.
I almost drove my rental into the Pacific Ocean out of spite.
- All of the functions described in the article are already on physical buttons and stalks in the Polestar 2 (I have one), so not sure how this is going to change anything? I'll agree that some of its error reporting and collision avoidance in particular are almost dangerous in their implementation, but that has no bearing on the physical buttons thing.
  
  No buttons for climate control / fans, and Android auto on it is also kinda jank.
- Zero dog in the game (I own a Mazda3) but I rented a Polestar and found it very enjoyable. Different, absolutely, but good enough that I was glad there is an alternative EV to Tesla if I wanted to get one.
  
  I am glad there are other players in the market but the user experience was just miserable for me. Between the lack of buttons for all the climate control and the error messages, as well as subpar android auto support in favor of their own janky android OS (not great for rentals).
  Maybe Polestar 3 will fix all this. Maybe.

Yes! I fucking love buttons and dials! And maybe Android Auto can just heckin' let me use my phone keyboard when I'm stopped.
- Yours doesn't?
  
  If Android Auto is active, it blocks me from opening Google Maps on my phone and I have to mess with the touchscreen interface a bunch before it offers to let me use my phone's keyboard while stopped. It would be less annoying if the voice search option and the search interface on the car's touchscreen was less bad.

Horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, hazard warning lights and SOS features.
What about: Headlights? Fog lights? Climate control? Etc..
- Not sure about fog lights(they need to be activated only once and only during fog), but climate control absolutely needs to be on this list.

Good, there's no reason for there to be more information displayed than you can read at a glance. And you should be able to feel for the controls you need instead of having to look at the screen and flip through menus.

Can we just use the European safety regulations for American cars? I'm tired of watching them get all the safety stuff a decade ahead of us.
- I expect you will. I think It will be cheaper to have a single spec globally for a given model of car.
  
  I’m afraid they won’t. When I was a Student I had a summer job at Mercedes assembling cars. At the time cars sent to the US needed bigger airbags - you’d think it’d be less error prone at negligible extra cost to just equip all cars with the bigger airbags but they didn’t.
  If they can save a couple of cents by having less buttons they’ll have less buttons.
  
  (laughs in freedom while eating food containing chemicals banned in the EU)
  
  Both my and my husband's US cars already have all of the items listed as physical buttons. I don't know that it'll really change much.

I don't see anything about gas, brake, or steering. Next generation EU market Tesla will feature drive-by-theremin.
- Practically a nightmare, but as a fantasy kinda cool. Initial D but they are theremin drifting would be kinda sick lol
- Maybe they'll go low-tech and introduce drive-by-terrain

Got very happy seeing the title, but we’re just talking about the bare minimum like horns and windshield wipers. A tiny step in the right direction, but not much else
- It's stopping it getting worse for a start. Bloody negative Nancy.
  
  Make the world a better place or get a vasectomy.
  Don't forget to tip your landlord today!
- Wtf is a lime horn? Driving in Europe must be wild
  
  Tbh I much prefer traditional lemon horns, but very hard to get them in new cars

EU being based as always. I have to admit it's pretty damn rare they let me down.
- This is just the Euro NCAP guidelines, not actual EU regulation, but still a positive development.
  And I agree that the EU have been on an amazing streak lately, they seem to be the only governing body actually fighting for consumer rights.

It's going to be funny when there's an entire decade of vehicles no one wants to buy on the used market. I'm looking forward to it. These touchscreens are terrible.
- It would be excellent if Europe forces manufacturers to replace old touchscreens at their own expense.

- Capacitive buttons are the fucking worst. Even when the manufacturers try to incorporate haptic feedback, it's never enough when you're in a moving vehicle with bumps in the road..
  
  Feel/touch and press/activate shouldn't be the same action

Some new tesla you change drive controls by swiping on a tablet. That seemed bit too much.
- There's also buttons (I believe capacitive, but not 100% sure), but they aren't as convenient to use.
  It's not only touch screen though.

Touchscreens in cars are stupid. Add miniature track pads to that too.
- I'd be ok with a haptic track ball or pad. If it gave you a noticable "click" it would be miles above the current screens.
  
  Or simply install a physical button.
  
  I am specifically talking about the micro pads they put on the Mercedes Benz steering wheels. Everything is still done at the touchscreen, but now you have a track pad to navigate it with. It is faster and safer to reach over and touch the screen. Less time with your eyes off the road when you are driving a big ass van.
  
  My A4 has it. I love it. When searching for something in the car, I don't need to pull my phone out. I can just write the letters on the console.
- they should just link the display to the steering wheel
  to go left and right you steer accordingly
  to go up and down you accelerate or break

mandate that five of a car’s primary controls — its horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, hazard warning lights and SOS features — will need physical buttons or switches.
Would love to see cruise control added to that list.
- Man, I haven’t got to the sci-fi cars yet. I’m still driving older tech (2003).
  I can’t even glance at my phone to change a song on Spotify. I know I won’t do well with a screen. It’s too dangerous for me.
- Didn't even occur to me that it was missing - I can find the cruise control buttons to turn it on/off, and set or change speed, with my eyes closed. Which is the whole idea. Eyes nowhere near the buttons, muscle memory takes over.
- And what about handbrake and shifters?
- weirdly Tesla Cruise control is a physical stick. just about everything else is touch screen, but indicators, gears, and cruise. (i think the new models it's actully all screen though)

aside from a rear view camera, theres no reason to have a screen in a car
- Well, I like it for showing me what song is playing and to have my navigation up - but other than that - I don't want to be touching or interacting with it at all.
  edit: grammar
  
  well you could design it so, that vehicle just has a hud [heads-up display], or maybe a second passenger screen too, that way engaging with them could be more safety oriented and more aesthetic.
- What about the wind screen?
  
  Listen here you little-
- Hard disagree. Modern dash displays give tons of useful information that would be very hard to display legibly with dials. The flexibility they offer is good too, often having more than one dash layout. Nav screens are also extremely useful. Going anywhere and never getting lost? Get outta here.
  And rear camera? Don't get me started on how a little dirt destroys your rear view until you pull over to clean it or how they represent a more difficult scenario for your eyes, increasing the amount of time you don't have your eyes on the road every time you check it. Unless you mean a back up camera and not a replacement for a rear view mirror, in which case yes those are super awesome.
  
  I have a rear camera instead of my mirror for a few years now. I don't know what you are talking about. Never had the issues you talk about. The only time it gets dirty, is when it sits for a while out in the open. You check it the exact same as you do a rearview mirror. The only issue with them is when it's raining, but then you can turn the screen off and just use them as a regular rearview mirror anyway.
- Having upcoming signs / crossing and speed limits displayed on a small screen between the gauges is something I found quite handy.
  The big display in the centre console is something that's only really usefull for maps / Spotify tho, not the rest of the car controls.
- Especially because I've seen cars where they die due to temperature changes.
- Navigation system? Music controls? I think what the NCAP is doing here is a good thing, but this is a bit too far to the other extreme.
  
  Phone does navigation better

Good, now North America needs to do the same. Sick of touchscreens. Also make it so it's harder to steal my car too thanks.

I think they need to be super explicit to stop the likes of Tesla weaseling out or doing the bare minimum:
Wipers, speed settings, auto on/off should be on a stalk for front and rear wipers
Indicators should be on a stalk with
Hazard lights must be a physical button
Horn may be on the wheel or a button
Lights on/off/full beam/dip/auto must be a dial or a stalk
Demister / heated window must be physical buttons
Gears must be a physical rocker, lever or dial
And button / dial etc here means an actual push up/down button not some haptic / touch sensitive shit.
Because at the moment Tesla are basically cheaping out of providing physical controls to save money. It doesn't matter if someone crashes their car fiddling to set the wiper speed because Tesla saved $20 on a stalk and that's all that matters.
- And, for the love of dog, please require that the volume knob not rely on software! I hate trying to turn down/off the radio and then wait while the car decides whether I'm serious.
  When I first start my car, the screen has to go through the boot up sequence and safety warning before the volume knob starts responding. The music starts playing right away, though, at whatever volume the previous driver deemed appropriate.
- Bit pedantic but a stalk + assembly could cost closer to $200, I'm not sure about design and manufacturing though
  
  On a 30k+ car. Fuck your 200.
  
  That may be the price if you buy a spare part. OEM for manufscturing it'll be much lower.
  I recently had to buy a hose for my car. At the dealer it was 170€. At an online diwcout parts store it was 14€. Name brand, Gates.
- Eh. I don't think you need to specify "stalk". I would be fine with physical buttons anywhere within easy reach. If they want to make a racing wheel that has 30 switches on it, I think I'm fine with that.
  I appreciate that SOME things don't have buttons now: getting into a BMW with that has the same number of buttons and switches as the cockpit of an airliner is ridiculous.

europe is my hero.
- the bar was so low
  
  oh yeah. around these parts the bar is so low im continually amazed at how fast the can dig to keep lowering it.
- I say "EU, I belive in you!", now you can say it too.

Fucking good, everything being touchscreen is completely insane.

So when are they gonna wake up and finally do something about these automatic dimming headlights? They blind me regularly.
On a curvy street its impossible to not get blinded, no matter if the car is following me, or driving opposite way.
Who allowed that shit while clearly not testing it.
- I feel like when I tell people in my life this, they act like I'm crazy. The only person who truly believes me is my partner, who has been graciously enduring every time I point out that someone has their brights/fog lights on. It is a constant in my life, getting blinded by assholes.
  
  i dont even think they do it intentionally, its just how new cars "work".
  I've droven cars that have that feature and you see alot more and it doesnt feel like you're blinding the other person.
  But in reality you do, especially if you have a lower car and not a huge suv

I don't understand the touch screens in cars, I would expect them to be more expensive than physical buttons. Are there that many people who think it's fancy that it's a selling feature?
- Think of it this way. Cars already need an LCD panel for infotainment these days. New cars that lack them get passed over. At the very least, people want CarPlay and Android Auto for maps and music.
  Secondly, physical switches and gauges haven’t been dumb analog or electric circuits for years. They all communicate with the car’s onboard computers.
  So, if the car already needs a touch screen, and all the garages and switches are digital behind the front end anyway, it’s going to be cheaper to make the gauges out of software than plastic.
  And with display panels getting cheaper and cheaper, you can slap a bigger panel in the car, and still save money on manufacturing.
  
  I'm happy with a Bluetooth connection to the stereo. I have maps on my phone.
  Fuck carplay/android auto in the ear.
  I hate getting a rental car and I just want my music, but it tries to hijack and download my whole phone.
  I want to get in, connect my phone and go. Not 20 minutes wrestling it for control.
  Digital displays are fine. It's just a display. But controls should be manual (buttons, dials, etc) that can be operated with eyes on road.
- Buttons and dials aren't cheap. Even in economy cars it probably costs the manufacturer a few bucks for each one, accounting for the switch itself and all the trim that goes with it.
  It only takes a handful to outweigh the cost of the typical LCDs used in car systems.
  
  Don't speculate about what you don't know about - the world is full enough with BS.
- My understanding was the screen itself is the expensive part. In the US, it’s required for a backup cam. At that point it’s cheaper and easier to assemble, just having everything on the network and doing software. Physical controls take more build time

Belgium-based NCAP says that purely digital controls are a potential safety issue. "What we now see is we have more and more ... crashes where people are having collisions because they're being distracted," said Matthew Avery, NCAP's director of strategic development. That matters because fatal car accidents are on the rise in the EU. More than 20,000 people died on the roads in 2022, a 4 percent increase over 2021. The bloc wants to halve the number of road deaths by 2030, with the goal of zero fatalities by 2050. Moreover, if the displays don't have tactile feedback, drivers can be distracted by having to poke at the screen — unsure if the controls are registering. "The problem with touchscreens is that there is inherently a lag in them, and more importantly, there is no haptic feedback," car interiors become increasingly high-tech, the different systems are starting to diverge. Gone are the days of getting into a car and immediately knowing where all the controls are; nowadays drivers have to adjust to each new car. the illumination from the screen diminishes the ability to see down dark road[s] because pupils normally adjust when [cars] have more light inside and [the] instrument panel and touchscreen causes an additional amount of light in the car, therefore diminishing nighttime vision," Carmakers like Tesla which rely heavily on new tech will have to decide if NCAP's five-star rating is worth reversing its interior design
Side note: touch screen are a gimmick not a new technology. the scale you have at the mall has a touch screen and has had one since the 90's. These touch screens are used in specific locations and settings to manage complex ui, with a lower maintenance cost and the chance to keep a device running for longer with a simple os update. Most touchscreen are, believe it or not, still resistive, as they have a strong feedback and they work across most temperature ranges. Most touchscreens are added to static tools like lab tools or workstations like lifts, scales, and so on. At no point they added resistive touchscreen in cars when the tech was new. Wanna know why? Touchscreens suck. Than the Iphone came and brought us here. Now we think that touchscreens are futuristic and fancy. Not, they aren't. Star wars and even Star trek had all physical control with full sets of buttons for the management of the ship. If a starship that you always liked had physical buttons why shouldn't your car have that design?
- the scale you have at the mall has a touch screen and has had one since the 90’s.
  Not in my experience. Touchscreens arrived in the late 90s, yes, but only really with transport ticket machines, and then only if complex interaction was needed, e.g. selecting destination station or something.
  To this day scales in supermarkets are either a) completely passive, that is, only display stuff, because the actual weighing is done at the till or b) have a keypad you punch a number into, generally foil. Works well enough. ATMs aren't touchscreen either they have a screen with what eight or ten buttons total to the left and right to select options. There's Braille on them I bet it's also an accessibility thing.
  Getting away from screens, capacitive buttons have their place and I definitely rather have slightly funky capacitive buttons on e.g. a scale than physical ones which get dirt into them, foil ones which are I guess fine but still somehow revolting, or worst of all the scale using its weighing feet to figure out whether you pressed the left or right button. But generally speaking capacitive buttons have one simple advantage for manufacturers: They're by far the cheapest option.
  
  This probably depends on where you live.
  Every super market that I go to, where I am expected to weigh vegetables and fruits myself, has touchscreens for the scales. This has been the case for many years now, I can't recall when they changed from buttons to touchscreens, so probably 15+ years.
  The bank ATM where I withdraw money has a touchscreen in addition to the old buttons and keypad. Both work, but the touchscreen has more options.

I only have a touch screen for entertainment and configuration and still notice how distracted I get when I have to use it. No haptic feedback and multilayered menus are just a bad idea while driving.
Cherry in top is driving at night with astigmatism when theres's a whole illuminated panel in your face.

Can't wait to get enough money to buy a car before 2005
- Why 2005?
  
  Probably the get last time touchscreens weren't in cars

Wow, have any car manufacturers actually tried changing these functions to touch buttons? I know Tesla got rid of the stalks, but my understanding was they still had physical buttons on the wheel to replace them.
- My father has a relatively late model Toyota Avalon. It has a touch screen infotainment system; there are physical buttons on the steering wheel for most functions and a physical volume knob on the dashboard.
  The HVAC controls have their own panel, but they're touch sensitive. So you can't feel for the knob or button you want and then interact with it. That shouldn't be legal.
  
  Yeah I've seen plenty of HVAC and other auxiliary functions like radio moved to touch (and absolutely agree it shouldn't be legal), but never the five they're legislating in the article (horn, indicators, wipers, hazard, SOS). Imagine touchscreen indicator buttons! The market would rip them apart.
- I thought Tesla put handbrakes on the touchscreen as well, which seems all sorts of crazy to me.. Might as well make a list of stuff we really dont want on there now I guess.

That's actually a good idea, because when your finger is wet the touchscreen doesn't work and on touchscreen is more difficult to develop muscle memory, so you spend more time distracted trying to find the spot on screen to touch

Do any cars actually put those 5 listed controls in their screen though? I think even teslas have buttons for all of those.
- Newer Teslas don't have a turn signal stalk. They've put the turn signals on capacitive touch elements on the steering wheel because of course they have.
  
  Thank god mine still came with a turn signal stalk. I've sort of come to terms with most of Tesla's touchscreen-only shenanigans but adjusting the AC or just changing the station still seems like an unnecessarily complicated chore. Worst is windshield wipers though, I don't want to tap through three menus or even talk to my car to just turn the damn things on because the rain sensor doesn't seem to do jack shit in a Tesla, yet here I am.
  
  Even though it’s capacitive I would call that a physical button in this context
  
  "capacitive touch element". Wow you tried really hard to not call it a button.
  It's still a dedicated space which isn't behind a screen or more importantly a menu. it's a button

They forgot add acceleration, breaks and clutch to this list.
But as ussual: EU, I belive in you!

can we please throw in banning blue LED headlamps too?

Also can you please ban piano black from interior?

This requirements should apply too AT THE VERY LEAST to air conditioning. I hate new models that require you to interact with a screen to turn it on, or to operate the infotainment volume.

- I've been in a Tesla where the hazards are in a touchscreen. It made me wildly uncomfortable

If they were truly focused on safety, they would have all commonly adjusted features able to be adjusted without having to take your eyes off the road. I have a 2020 Nissan versa and the only time I look at the screen is to press pause/play and to check who's calling. Everything else I can do by feel.

This is the perfect example of, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Physical buttons are always more reliable without having to take your eyes off the road.

i haven’t driven in a while but i can’t remember really needing to control my keys that much. usually they stay put pretty well once they’re in the ignition