CES 2019: Alpine Previews New CarPlay Receivers, One Features Oversized 9-Inch Hovering Screen

[entropys]

“Welcome to 2019. Buy our non-wireless $800 CarPlay unit.”

I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

What is it that you need help with?

I think if you read it backwards, “ buy our non-wireless $800 carplay unit” becomes “hurry up and bend over,owner of an old and worthless car.”

 

[danmart]

It's not the screen that's oversized. There's so much functionality around the screen that should be moved into it.

It's like staring at the early Android phones that had a dozen physical buttons. Crazy to think that Android manufacturers figured it out 10 years ago but everyone in the auto industry that isn't Tesla can't figure that out.

Touch screens are a very poor choice in a vehicle of any kind, since you need to look at them to operate them. I would never buy a Tesla for this reason.

I just wish more aftermarket manufacturers would have a physical volume knob instead of the buttons. I have a Pioneer with CarPlay unit in one of my cars and the buttons are small enough you have to take your eyes off the road to find them. A knob solves that problem. Didn’t realize how big of a deal it was (to me) until after I got it installed and started using it.

Removing physical buttons is a negative to me. The tactile feedback of physical knobs and buttons allows one to keep their eyes on the road when adjusting the volume, changing a station, or any other number of things.

Put me in the crowd for physical knobs. I work in the car industry and abhor tough screen interfaces. They are likely to be just as, if not more than, dangerous as using your phone while driving. It’s impossible to feel your way around a screen and look at the road. It seems manufacturers are starting to realize this and have hybrid systems with a large screen and knobs for common functions at least. Steering wheel controls are not enough if they car doesn’t have them or if they only have certain functions.

My degree is in Ergonomics and it is definitely the case that vehicles are a different use-case than other kinds of systems, this is even recognised in law in the UK.

I’m an Audi driver myself and my car has a jog wheel control that allows me to manipulate controls on the head unit by feel. Audi were the masters of this, with much better systems than BMW or Mercedes (who had touch interfaces almost exclusively). Unfortunately Audi seem to have lost the plot and their new cars have many touch-only functions. That is the cost of being a follower, not a leader.

 

[MacOH21]

My SUV has the climate controls built into the touch screen, with no physical buttons. When the touch screen failed, guess what? Couldn’t control the AC or heat.

$1200 later...

Going forward, I’ll always have physical knobs if possible.

 

[one more]

Relatively speaking, in dash AV units have come down in price quite a bit over the years. They’re also much more feature packed now. People spend $1000 a year on a new phone yet $500-$800 for an in dash receiver that you’ll buy once is too much?

As the phone market matures, less and less people are willing to spend $1000 a year on a new phone, there is simply no need. The latest iOS runs just fine for day-to-day tasks for most people using A8-powered devices or higher. With CarPlay and Google Autos developing way faster than any other car solutions, why would anybody want to pay a $500 extra for a mere extra screen (with extra buttons) conveniently embedded into a dashboard? For the same amount of money you could get a cellular iPad Mini and just attach it to your car, getting a much more multi-functional and user-friendly device.

The way I see it, the mainstream car manufacturers will never quite catch-up to Apple, Google or Microsoft, so they might as well all agree on a universal panel/screen standard to be included into every new car and compatible with Apple, Google, etc. offerings. A really good quality screen panel might cost them around a $70-100, which is, indeed, very little, compared to the overall cost of a car. Now this would be neat!

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Removing physical buttons is a negative to me. The tactile feedback of physical knobs and buttons allows one to keep their eyes on the road when adjusting the volume, changing a station, or any other number of things.

Buy a car where you don't need to keep your eyes on the road.

Pretty sure lane keeping isn't even a particularly special thing anymore, is it? Tesla has offered it for 5 years, Nissan and Chevy have both had it for two years... I imagine plenty of other brands have it since Nissan and Chevy aren't exactly known for being at the leading edge...

 

[vipergts2207]

Buy a car where you don't need to keep your eyes on the road.

Pretty sure lane keeping isn't even a particularly special thing anymore, is it? Tesla has offered it for 5 years, Nissan and Chevy have both had it for two years... I imagine plenty of other brands have it since Nissan and Chevy aren't exactly known for being at the leading edge...

Yeah, that way when it malfunctions, you can kill someone. Pretty sure having a Tesla or any other self-driving car doesn't protect you from distracted driving laws, nor absolve you of responsibility in case of an 'accident.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html

 

[macduke]

What is it that you need help with?

I don't understand how a company can put out a non-wireless CarPlay unit in 2019 for that much money when there are wireless versions that also cost that much and wired versions that are only a few hundred bucks.