Looking at the various video reviews and video adverts, I am starting to get an impression of VW's biggest issue: The incomplete VW OS. I am a tech expert (CTO, with experience in web development, software support, manuals, courses, etc.) and feel fairly qualified to critique without having experienced the real thing.
"Instrument cluster" on the steering column:
This tripartite screen feels largely unfinished, without the polish and cohesiveness of a mature product. The data is there, the developers have obviously given thought to what information needs to be larger and/or colored, but it doesn't hold together, and doesn't leave me with a smile and a nod like looking at the nose of the car or the overall interior does, for example. I like that the display is configurable from the steering wheel, but that does not (and should not) hide the overall design shortcomings.
I'd say this screen is at an alpha stage. That said, I really like the decision of placing it on the steering column. That's one of the really good decisions VW made on the ID series.
Infotainment screen (hate that name, but it's what everyone uses):
The home screen with app icons is a truly bad idea. No data displayed by default means getting to anything useful takes taps, swipes, and worst of all, brain cycles. That is simply uncool in a car. I sure hope the defaults can be changed and saved.
The fact that the icons are recolorable and can be rearranged does not make it any better, it just pretties up the fact that an array of icons is essentially useless, although now colorfully useless. The icons themselves do not look very distinctive on the videos I have seen, and being all the same color makes usability worse. It also does not look like there will be badges on icons, or other distinctions that would carry at least a minimum of information.
Had VW instead followed a widget metaphor, like we see in Android and now on iOS 14, we could configure a home screen with actual data that's ready to go when we get into the car. Instead it looks like we will have to tap and swipe our way to a useful display every time we leave home. Yikes!
There is a saving grace that the rear camera view comes on automatically, and maybe a couple of other information screens will pop in automatically at the right time. Those items are cool and useful.
It is sort of fun to see the swipe gestures, and also the partially working voice interaction, but frankly, I would much prefer a fully functional, minimally intrusive user experience on the screen itself, before fancy other interactions are introduced.
I give the current infotainment screen an F, and judge it to be pre-alpha.
To get an idea of what the user experience can be in a modern car, you can look at Tesla (obviously), but also at Polestar's implementation of Android Auto. The latter looks great and useful at the very first glance.
Taken together, the user facing aspects of VW OS look like someone left a bunch of barely adolescent boys in charge of the tech toys, without adult supervision. It is 2020 Volkswagen, software architecture and design is not that hard anymore, you can do way better! Thank goodness there will be over the air updates, I place all my hopes in those.
I am curious what everyone else thinks?
"Instrument cluster" on the steering column:
This tripartite screen feels largely unfinished, without the polish and cohesiveness of a mature product. The data is there, the developers have obviously given thought to what information needs to be larger and/or colored, but it doesn't hold together, and doesn't leave me with a smile and a nod like looking at the nose of the car or the overall interior does, for example. I like that the display is configurable from the steering wheel, but that does not (and should not) hide the overall design shortcomings.
I'd say this screen is at an alpha stage. That said, I really like the decision of placing it on the steering column. That's one of the really good decisions VW made on the ID series.
Infotainment screen (hate that name, but it's what everyone uses):
The home screen with app icons is a truly bad idea. No data displayed by default means getting to anything useful takes taps, swipes, and worst of all, brain cycles. That is simply uncool in a car. I sure hope the defaults can be changed and saved.
The fact that the icons are recolorable and can be rearranged does not make it any better, it just pretties up the fact that an array of icons is essentially useless, although now colorfully useless. The icons themselves do not look very distinctive on the videos I have seen, and being all the same color makes usability worse. It also does not look like there will be badges on icons, or other distinctions that would carry at least a minimum of information.
Had VW instead followed a widget metaphor, like we see in Android and now on iOS 14, we could configure a home screen with actual data that's ready to go when we get into the car. Instead it looks like we will have to tap and swipe our way to a useful display every time we leave home. Yikes!
There is a saving grace that the rear camera view comes on automatically, and maybe a couple of other information screens will pop in automatically at the right time. Those items are cool and useful.
It is sort of fun to see the swipe gestures, and also the partially working voice interaction, but frankly, I would much prefer a fully functional, minimally intrusive user experience on the screen itself, before fancy other interactions are introduced.
I give the current infotainment screen an F, and judge it to be pre-alpha.
To get an idea of what the user experience can be in a modern car, you can look at Tesla (obviously), but also at Polestar's implementation of Android Auto. The latter looks great and useful at the very first glance.
Taken together, the user facing aspects of VW OS look like someone left a bunch of barely adolescent boys in charge of the tech toys, without adult supervision. It is 2020 Volkswagen, software architecture and design is not that hard anymore, you can do way better! Thank goodness there will be over the air updates, I place all my hopes in those.
I am curious what everyone else thinks?