My Card. My Work.

• tomokeefe
  Thanks Rob. Its nice to get feed back from someone that's been behind the wheel of one. Thx
• Rob - Texas
  I drove one of these yesterday, and it wasn't distracting at all. I didn't even notice the changing information until the salesman pointed it out to me. And after that, with it being something new and different for me to look at it, my habit of looking at the road while I drive was still greater than my curiosity to look at the LCD's.
  
  I would say for good drivers, this is nothing different than any other distraction on the road or in the car (e.g. GPS screens, traffic accidents, billboards, etc.)
  
  Easily distracted drivers are probably already distracted by the many other things surrounding them, so yes, this would just add to their negligence...
  
  BTW - if you haven't gotten behind the wheel of one of these, I highly recommend it! No, I didn't buy one, but I didn't feel like I could honestly comment on it without first driving it.
• ??????????
  Ford is a good car :)
• andre
  Ford the best car :)
• Aaron Irizarry
  Yeah I am gonna have to say that considering the arena in which this would be used it is not the right solution (IMO).
  I Think it looks nice, but as far as usability, it is too distracting which interferes with the highest level function of it's greater part(the car)... Driving!
  
  I truly think this will be distracting to most people (or at least my wife). There are some valuable uses, and information provided... but I don't think this is the right place for them.
• Moah
  ohh my comment got cut off.
  regarding digital vs. analog displays, I know most people are used to and love analog displays for car dashboards. I believe the current temperature & current speed at the very least should be digital. I do not need to know the bounds of these measurements cause I already know them. I know how fast my car could go. 120 MPH max? 67' F matters more to me than some thermometer like display. What's important to me is it's absolute value, not where it lies in the range.
• Moah
  I agree with you this is doing too much in such a small space. And yes, it needs to be unobtrusive.
  
  I love any designs that encourage people to be more green and more aware of their driving behaviors. But it can't annoy me. If the dashboard is annoying me or if I am playing a game to have more green leaves, that clearly means I am distracted and not paying attention to the road. Quote from original business week post "Our big finding was that drivers interested in fuel efficiency were playing a game. They want a high score," says Steve Bishop, IDEO's global lead of sustainability."
• Tom Okeefe
  even if you take the safety factor away. The visual/user experience seem poor.
• Tom Okeefe
  I get what you're saying but the thing is it's right in front of you and movement and color and images can make a driver look down and at the dashboard. Some people can handle multi-tasking better than others. I can drive while having a conversation on a cell phone either while holding my hand held or on my command unit in my car. (S-Class MBenz) while playing with my navigation without a problem. Some people can't even hold a phone and drive without causing road rage. LOL with today's technologies playing a big role into our everyday lives and the increasing accident rate from drivers while talking on phones, TXTn etc having something that could cause some people (not all) to get distracted is not a good thing.
  
  Your dashboard is just that... a place to view at glance to see important information without being distracted. Even large monitors / navs could cause just the same problems. Oh well
  
  :)
• Sean Gallagher
  It would seem that "people screwing around" causes accidents.
  
  I suppose we should cover up cathedrals and landmarks, as people tend to look at those in awe, as they drive by. that we, we are all now SAFE, there is no more distraction.
  I'm sure we could find some data to support corporations and the feds thinking for me, so i don't hurt myself / take responsibility for my own actions in areas of beauty / scenery.
  
  For those who are reading this: When you drive you car. you look at the road.
  You glance at mirrors regularly, and check your speed and other gauges, by glancing, regularly.
  
  You do not WATCH you fuel gauge instead of the road.
  this just seems like common sense.
  
  If a leaf growing on a dash, is so amazing to you that you cannot look away from it while you are driving... you shouldnt be in a car.
  period.
  
  If that is SO distracting and SO amazing, you will never make it down the street, because you will never be able to look away form all the other AMAZING MOVING things around you.
  
  Other things that may also distract you:
  birds.
  Sky / clouds.
  Street Signs.
  Dogs
  Other vehicles.
  Stripes painted on road look like video game, may give impression of ability to crash car and just "use another man".
  iPhone
  iPod
  Blackberry
  Twitter
  Facebook status updates
• Michael Imhoff
  They definitely need to work on the contrast, as I agree it might be hard to view. Also, they could probably improve it by cutting the size of the speedometer...
• Joseph Maguire
  Hope they took out insurance because ford will need it after a few people will complain they looked at their dashboard too long lol.
• Herf
  The blue seems pretty bad for night driving. The leaves are hard to read, and while I like designs like this for other stuff, it is no good for something where quantitative data is more useful...e.g., you can't compare your efficiency driving the same route two days in a row.
  
  The biggest flaw seems to be that this display has 5 equally-dominant panels that are all hard to read. This just makes it look cluttered instead of clear.
• Meredith Kench
  I think for cool factor it certainly wins - it looks cool. However, I would find that quite distracting while I'm driving to have leaves falling off the tree, when I'm trying to switch lanes on a highway. Not to mention if you really need a manual to use something it's not very user friendly. Did they conduct eye strain tests on this dashboard? Seems to me this would cause a lot of eye strain with the vibrant colors and amount of information.
  
  In general what I find that American car companies have failed at (and the MAIN reason I have never owned an American car - I buy Toyotas/Hondas) is their dashboards. They are often unusable and clunky (and I'm including all the radio/heat etc function in this as well). If you get into a Honda or Toyota you get it in about 2 minutes - where everything is and how to use it. I rented a Chevy Impala and drove it for a week and I COULD NOT figure out what the hell the buttons did (none were labeled) - it was the worst user experience I've ever had behind the wheel. It all but confirmed for me why I don't buy American cars, sadly.
  
  So while I'm very happy to see Ford thinking outside the box and really doing something different that looks cool, I question how user friendly it is. Because after all - the main reason to have a car is to drive somewhere safely with minimal distraction. I can picture people screwing around with this highly distracting dashboard and getting in an accident.
• Tom Okeefe
  [img]http://www.cnet.com.au/story_media/339290578/idrive.jpg[/img]
• Tom Okeefe
  I like to punch things. LOL
  
  I don't know Sean I can imagine someone looking at the leaves grow and hit someone.
  
  I do look at things more than one way. I think with any "new" approach to something that breaks the norm will either get praise or not. Take the BMW 7 Series when they first re-designed the interior and dashboard and added a huge dial. It took a lot of re-work and criticism.
  
  I do agree though that to really know if the colors work would be driving the car.
  
  Thanks for sharing
• Sean Gallagher
  Tom! PUNCH your dashboard?
  You got issues bro! HAHA...
  
  Seriously. Looks like an attempt to be informative and thoughtful and present info in a new/pleasing way.
  
  I don't think things moving around on a dash, will cause accidents.
  Cars move around in front of you on the road.
  Things go by out the window, your turn signal blinks furiously when you cut it on...
  Og those distracting WIPERS!!! moving around on your windshield...
  
  Seriously? > PEOPLE CAUSE ACCIDENTS.
  Watch the ROAD people. driving 101. take responsibility. dont blame your dashboards gauges/meters/doohickeys.
  
  If a person is not paying attention and rams something because they are staring at their fuel gauge nervously as they run out of gas, or a "check engine" light that is blinking... is that gauge/indicator doing it's job or "causing" an accident??
  
  I'd like to think people aren't complete tools, and can learn new interfaces.
  obviously the tutorial is for people who want to better acclimate themselves, and I doubt that the tutorial is required to use the gauges.
  
  I understood it as soon as i looked at it.
  
  I can't judge it without seeing it in person.
  
  I think your color / contrast issues are realistic.
  
  try and See things in more than one way bro.
• rob
  I'm with you. That looks like a lot to take in while driving. I've got a civic hybrid, and while IO enjoy the extra info about mileage (both current and ongoing I get) they do it in a completely unobtrusive way. this looks confusing to me.

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