DougD
500+ Head-Fier
Interesting thoughts.I think you guys are missing the point a little…
Huge (touch) screens in cars aren't meant to not be distracting. To be distracting is their whole point to begin with.
Whether you like this or not*, self-driving cars will be the norm in a decade or two. Considering that 98% of the people I see driving around on California roads don't even know how to drive safely, I wouldn't be surprised one bit if and when human-operated cars were to be legally restricted to private properties or minor side roads before long.
Once those people are no longer required to split their attention span of a fruit fly between watching traffic and the phones they're trying to hide below the window line, they will want to be entertained in other ways – and a tiny phone screen just won't cut it. The screen-plagued cars we see today are just a precursor to what's virtually inevitable to come: entertainment centers that just happen to be motorized, filled with screens that serve you all the content you could ever long for. For an ever growing list of modest subscription fees, of course.
The screens we have today are the results of car manufacturers learning how to build those rolling entertainment centers. It is an industry caught up in the search for this fine line between catching and retaining the highest possible amount of attention, and killing their paying customers through constant distraction. It's either that, or risking to be driven off the market for having become "too boring" in a few years time.
* I, for one, loathe this thought. I love driving, it's like meditation to me. But considering that self-driving cars are already becoming safer than most drivers in most situations even today, I'm not sure which side I would really land on if I had to make a choice.
We may be approaching a world where, if you want to get somewhere, you jump in your computer-controlled vehicle, and it autonomously conveys your human bits on the fully integrated transportation network.
And if you want to DRIVE, you head over to the mancave, strap into your vibration-enhanced cockpit/seat, fire up the simulator, and put on your VR helmet.