The good, the bad, and the ugly sides of in-car tech you didn’t ask for

The technology we use in our cars is a mixed bag. Some work exceptionally well, while others just look like great ideas — the experience of using them really sucks. Then there are features that can at best be described as ill-conceived, but more accurately, plain stupid.

And there isn’t always a clear line between what works and what does not. Advanced driver assist, for example, is brilliant when it works as advertised, but when it does not, the results can vary between terrifying and deadly.

Carmakers are always rushing new tech to market, driven by our collective craving for the next shiny toy. Some of that tech starts off rough but gets really good over time. Some still aren’t quite there. Others are just plain badly thought-out, with no real shot at redemption.

So here it is: the good, the bad, and the ugly of in-car tech.

The good

Good ideas really starting to work well

Some technologies promised a lot but failed to follow through. Either they were released too early — resulting in features that didn’t work properly or were frustrating to use — or some genius came along, looked at the feature, and found a much simpler, better way to do it.

Automatic multi-zone climate control

Automatic multi-zone climate control is a great idea, and it’s finally clicked into place for many car brands. It lets each person in the car travel with their ideal ambient temperature — basically a microclimate for every seat.

You can set the temperature and fan speed individually, and sensors will constantly monitor conditions and adjust as needed to keep things just right. It even works in three-row SUVs.

Blind-spot camera

Blind-spot alert uses a sensor in the bumper to warn you if you are about to change lane into a car in your blind spot. The blind spot camera takes it a step further with a camera on the passenger-side wing mirror. The moment you push the indicator stalk, the camera will show the view of the blind spot on your screen, with markings indicating scale and distances — much like your reverse parking camera.

According to J.D. Power’s TXI study, 93% of people with this feature use it most of the time, 74% want it when they next buy a car, and vehicles with this tech sell quicker than those without.

In-car payment

I used to hate this tech. It either didn’t work well, was a pain to use, or took so darn long that I’d rather just tap my card. Fortunately, it’s finally starting to do what it was supposed to. Over 60% of drivers now like it, using it for EV charging, fuel, parking, and tolls.

It’s still not a universal win — mostly because accessing it through the infotainment system is often clunky and overcomplicated. But it’s getting there.

The bad

Good ideas currently badly executed

Some ideas are so obviously good that we immediately get why we should have them. But then the execution is so bad, we just want to turn the feature off and go back to the old-school way of doing things. These are good ideas — and they could work really well — if the user experience gets a serious upgrade.

Car wash mode

This is a great idea — now so bad to use that I’ve had to invent new swear words just to express my frustration. We use a car wash because we’re in a hurry, so pressing a single button to close the windows and disable the rain-sensing wipers makes perfect sense.

Or it would — if you can find the button. It’s usually hidden deep within the layers of the infotainment system, making it difficult to find. Even if you find it, most systems are so slow, you may as well have saved some time by doing it manually. But with a bit of thought, this could be a feature I would like to have.

Biometric security verification

You know you’re you — and you’re in a hurry. But because of a bad hair day, your car doesn’t recognize your face and refuses to let you in. Or maybe your fingerprints don’t register because of a greasy finger. In an ideal world, your car would recognize you the moment you approach — unlock the doors, adjust your seat, and cue everything to your personal settings.

But unlike other tech that just isn’t quite there yet, biometric recognition is still very much hit-and-miss. The consequences of failure can vary from the annoying to really problematic.

Driver attention monitors

Driver attention monitors use sensors to track your face — especially your eyes — to make sure you’re paying attention to the road. Knowing what I know about drowsy driving, I fully support the idea. The problem is how it actually works.

It measures how well you stay in your lane, which means it’ll beep if you swerve to avoid a pothole or, say, a squashed animal. A camera tracks where your eyes are looking — and whether they’re open. So the system can get all excited when you glance at something next to the road, or you blink a lot because of hay fever.

The ugly

Awful ideas

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is the most visible culprit in this, but it is by no means the only offender. A lot of these issues mirror the functionality of our phones, where everything is touch-based. The problem is that what works on phones does not necessarily translate into functional design on cars.

Designers like to replace messy levers, buttons, and stalks with icons on the touchscreen. After a day of driving a new car, your hands will instinctively drop to the gear lever to go from park to reverse.

Gear shift via touchscreen

It is simple. You simply tap the brake, and your gear shift function appears on the touchscreen. Which means you have to look down to see what you’re doing. Some carmakers swear by haptic buttons — the kind that vibrate when you touch them. But you still have to look down to find the damn things.

To add insult to injury, if your solution is to add two arrow buttons as an alternative gear selector behind the rearview mirror, your quest for futuristic minimalism has gone too far.

Indicators

In the quest to simplify the cabin, Tesla has removed the old, easy-to-find indicator stalks and replaced them with touch buttons on the screen and a couple of arrow buttons on the steering wheel.

When you are navigating your way at 50 mph through traffic, you want the old-school, ready-at-hand button, lever, or stalk, not some hidden button on an infotainment screen already too complicated for everyday use by busy people.