Post by Sylvia ElsePost by Jan PanteltjeEuropean crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/03/carmakers-must-bring-back-buttons-to-get-good-safety-scores-in-europe/
In 2026, Euro NCAP points will be deducted if some controls aren't physical.
I think this is a very good idea
Though they seem to be talking about driving controls, rather than
controls that a driver might be expected to use while driving, such as
the air-conditioning and radio volume controls.
I'm not aware of a vehicle that has moved any of the driving controls to
a touch screen, so perhaps they're just hoping to preempt that.
In the US at least, there is a legal definition of an automobile in
each state, and these definitions typically require various things to
be physically present. Nobody has tried or talked of eliminating the
steering wheel, except in truly autonomous vehicles.
There was a funny case from the 1970s, where some California hippies
in a VW Bus without a motor or licence plates were traveling on the
highway by getting out and pushing the bus to the top of the next
hill, getting in and coasting down and then up till it stopped. Rinse
and repeat.
The police tried to stop this, but were foiled because the legal
definition required that it have a motor, which it didn't. So it
didn't need to be licensed, etc. California changed the law to stop
the fun.
But cars that don't have a steering wheel, instead having a side-stick
(like a fighter aircraft) are legal.
Joe Gwinn