Here's Jony Ive's Ferrari Luce EV Interior and Interface Design

[Superhai]

What’s strange is he’s using an easy to turn knob on the right but a hard to turn knob on the left:

View attachment 2603162

Some other parts are nice, though, I like the control panel handle.

It is maybe better explained on Ferraris site https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/auto/ferrari-luce but they have bit different function.
I think this is much better than in the latest Ferraris which had too much touch (they had to retrofit new "knob"-styles back).

 

[leifp]

About the only element I take issue with is having the Tesla-style signals separated on the wheel rather than on a stalk. Very unnecessary change. However, this is a super well thought out interior that will not survive contact with the real world. In a good way: it will show exactly what needs to change and how, something the iPhone screen-motivated Teslas and the slavish copyists of the generic car industry get zero out of one hundred for.

In a decade we should have excellent interiors (not of this calibre, obviously) in most cars, regardless of price, and that I await with impatience.

 

[Superhai]

They're also not the functions that you need on a steering wheel, nor are they the types of easy-controls that you want on a steering wheel. On the steering column, yes, but not on the wheel - especially those types of controls on a Ferrari.

Ferrari have different controls than most cars, more is picked from F1, but I doubt that it is Jony Ive who decides what goes there, it is not too different from the hybrid cars from Ferrari.

 

[_timo_redux_]

Great video, and certainly the emphasis on tactility and ergonomics is refreshing to see (and, I imagine, feel.) Ives may have made some missteps, e.g., the Macbook Pros, but I see many design decisions here that have a real chance of becoming /the/ way we interact with the next generation of cars.

Golson’s got it right: older car interfaces, with the advent and example of touch screens, went in some cases all in on screens for controls, which while simple and futuristic to present is annoying at best and dangerous at worst to use. The numerous flawed examples of car controls now are obvious, so this new car thinking needed to examine and import the best of old car control ideas, which are analog and tactile. Buttons, switches: things that have a material and positional feel without looking at them.

I’m less convinced by the fussiness of screens within screens, or theatre like the ignition sequence that’s cool once or twice, but perhaps rote when you’re used to it. There’s a grab bag of nifty in this cluster of ideas, and some of these ideas probably could have been simplified.

But of course that’s the Ferrari-lux component of this design: make it technology unique. The problem of course is analogous to the gold series one watches: cutting edge technology ages out. But perhaps the examples here might drive others towards the more classic and timeless end of design.

 

[jicon]

I don't get it. Of all the controls I would need while driving, those are the ones I want on the steering wheel? I suppose I'm not driving for extended periods with multiple weather changes where I'd want to tweak some of those settings on the fly.

 

[FatLouie]

Please don't cost $700,000...

....but it comes with Apple CarPlay Ultra and AC+. 🙂

 

[wonderings]

I think what Tesla has done is make you need buttons less and less. I have my temperature controlled, I adjust to the temperature I want and the car does the rest. High beams and low beams, they do their own thing and turn on when needed and when not. Wiper blades, same thing. Now I can control them all directly if I want, but from my experience it is much nicer to have a car I can trust to do what it needs to do with very little intervention from me. Bringing buttons back is not really innovative or doing something fresh, it is just back tracking on what does not work well.

 

[burgman]

Yeah you’re right it’s a design issue and there’s room for both.

I’m just not a fan of replacing everything behind a screen for the sake of it. Some cars have screens the entire width of the dashboard, it’s crazy. There’s a place for both but manufacturers have taken touchscreens to the extreme.

It's so much cheaper to do touchscreens with can bus vs wiring and switches. I do like the light show modes on the new full dash screens, and LED accent lighting. A nightmare to use on my Mercedes looking for hidden menus and options. My Jeep does pretty good with screen/switch.

 

[baryon]

I like the concepts and directions in this. Tactile, satisfying buttons and knobs instead of touch screens with lazy interfaces is a good direction for the whole car industry. It looks good, it's simple but functional and it doesn't try to be different just for the sake of being different. You had controls like this on older sports cars and in current race cars, it's nothing new, but the way it was done and the time in which it was done is new. It's designed like a good user interface, which it is.

 

[I7guy]

I’ve gotten so used to not needing to interface with my cars touchscreen while driving that going back to buttons and knobs is maddening and antediluvial.

 

[Big_D]

For once he is actually talking sense. I've been saying for years that modern cars have become more dangerous, because the physical controls have been replaced by touch screens. If you are driving, you shouldn't need to take your eyes off the road to change the temperature, hit the hazard warning lights, turn the headlights on or off etc. Burying this sort of thing in submenus is just downright dangerous.

I borrowed a company Skoda a couple of weeks back to drive to another site. The temperature, climate control settings and the seat warmer were all controlled over the touch screen. If you are cruising at 120mph on the Autobahn, you don't really want to be faffing around with a f***ing touchscreen, because your rear has gotten a bit warm and you want to turn off the seat heating! On my personal car, I drop my hand from the steering wheel to the centre console and where the hand naturally lands is the on/off switch for the heater. Likewise, I have memorised where the controls are for changing the temperature, screen demister, A/C on/off etc. I can reach down and adjust them without having to look.

So it is great to see that Jonny has also seen that as critical, especially in a car that can travel at supercar speeds. You really need your eyes on the road and your concentration on what you are doing, not staring down at a touchscreen to work out how to turn down the heater. At 150mph, taking your eyes off the road for 1 second is over 220 feet or nearly 70 meters. To get to the heating menu, from the top menu, you probably need a minimum of 5 seconds with your eyes off the road, which is grossly negligent.

 

[tomtad]

The centre touch screen handle is a brilliant idea, something to rest your hand on while you press the screen.

I can see this having a lot of influence on car interiors going forward.

 

[stiligFox]

Yes! I haven’t been able to watch the video but skim it but I 100% agree. My beloved 1992 Volvo is nothing but switches and knobs, each is uniquely shaped and sized so without taking my eyes of the road I can toggle lights, adjust the AC, change the radio, turn on heated seats, etc all by feel. Automotive designers have lost that and I’m very glad to see a handful of makes - VW and Honda, both I believe - as well as people like Ive designing physical controls again.

Touchscreens can have a place in cars for small things like GPS control such but not every dang function and feature needs to be touch controlled!

 

[RemedyRabbit]

Great that someone with Ive’s profile is arguing against screen based interfaces in cars. It’s kinda baffling to me why car makers persist with them, they so obviously suck.

 

[timber]

By now it seemed that most car companies had read the memo that just because you are selling an EV it doesn't need to be different or weird.

It's not outright ugly but lacks class and people will probably blame it on being an EV.

 

[pbau]

Meh, this give early 00's vibe

 

[I7guy]

For once he is actually talking sense. I've been saying for years that modern cars have become more dangerous, because the physical controls have been replaced by touch screens. If you are driving, you shouldn't need to take your eyes off the road to change the temperature, hit the hazard warning lights, turn the headlights on or off etc. Burying this sort of thing in submenus is just downright dangerous.

I borrowed a company Skoda a couple of weeks back to drive to another site. The temperature, climate control settings and the seat warmer were all controlled over the touch screen. If you are cruising at 120mph on the Autobahn, you don't really want to be faffing around with a f***ing touchscreen, because your rear has gotten a bit warm and you want to turn off the seat heating! On my personal car, I drop my hand from the steering wheel to the centre console and where the hand naturally lands is the on/off switch for the heater. Likewise, I have memorised where the controls are for changing the temperature, screen demister, A/C on/off etc. I can reach down and adjust them without having to look.

So it is great to see that Jonny has also seen that as critical, especially in a car that can travel at supercar speeds. You really need your eyes on the road and your concentration on what you are doing, not staring down at a touchscreen to work out how to turn down the heater. At 150mph, taking your eyes off the road for 1 second is over 220 feet or nearly 70 meters. To get to the heating menu, from the top menu, you probably need a minimum of 5 seconds with your eyes off the road, which is grossly negligent.

Who faffs with their touch screen? Never need to touch it except for the “tainment” part of it and then every car has the same issue. It’s nice not to move my hands from the steering wheel to invoke critical functions.

But I’m sure Ferraris first ev is going to be nice and fast.

 

[Big_D]

Who faffs with their touch screen? Never need to touch it except for the “tainment” part of it and then every car has the same issue. It’s nice not to move my hands from the steering wheel to invoke critical functions.

But I’m sure Ferraris first ev is going to be nice and fast.

The Skoda Superb Scout I was driving a couple of weeks back had the heating controls on-screen and the seat and steering wheel heating controls another layer down in the interface.

 

[efekurnaz]

Classic Jony. Wonderful UI, sleek materials, questionable ergonomics. It'd be quite painful to hold onto that heritage wheel for more than 10 minutes and not sure if a Bottega Veneta collab for Ferrari Gloves might save it.

 

[Asthmatic Kitty]

Great video. Jony's still got it. I hope the author is right and we'll start to see this kind of thoughtfulness and nice touches trickle down to other cars.

 

[ForkHandles]

Account vacated.

 

[1738]

I feel like having a switch to flip when there's ice, wet pavement, dry, or "sport?" is actually pretty awful design. Most new cars determine this for you and react differently as the terrain changes.

 

[alexandr]

I think I see where the inspiration came from...

 

[jlgolson]

Great video. Thanks.

It all looked great apart from the gear knob. Why on earth would anyone choose to go from P to R to N to D. I’m parked I want to go forward. Move to D.

Ergonomically it’s really wasteful.

Why would I want N ? It’s electric it doesn’t need N

There are a few different control schemes for shifters, but the PRND progression (and hence the name of my site!) is pretty timeless. Volvo has you push forward to go into reverse (thus sort of starting in neutral) and backwards to go forwards, and the early Toyota Prius is similar.

This is more classic. Park has it's own place to go, separate from the others.

You would want Neutral if you're going to be towed which isn't entirely unheard of for a Ferrari, to be fair.

 

[macmac30]

Those knobs and switches on the steering wheel are awful. They're not built into the steering wheel and look like cheap after-market accessories. They're also not the functions that you need on a steering wheel, nor are they the types of easy-controls that you want on a steering wheel. On the steering column, yes, but not on the wheel - especially those types of controls on a Ferrari.

Maybe the people who design consumer electronics shouldn't be designing cars. He's right that touchscreens in cars are wrong, but this design is also not right.

That was my first thought when I saw the wiper setting knob. Way too tall on a steering wheel. I could just see knocking that during spirited driving...maybe not an issue but it looked like one.