{"id":5244,"date":"2013-07-05T19:29:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T01:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5244"},"modified":"2013-07-05T19:29:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-06T01:29:49","slug":"designing-dashboards-with-fewer-distractions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5244","title":{"rendered":"Designing Dashboards With Fewer Distractions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/nyti.ms\/14wdDZO\">Bill Vlasic<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The engineers working on Honda\u2019s new Acura MDX luxury sport utility vehicle were obsessed with giving customers more \u2014 more space in the rear seat, more fuel economy from a high-tech engine, and above, all, more apps, maps and connectivity.<\/p>\n<p>But there was one feature they wanted less of: buttons.<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to simplify the newest Honda vehicle, which went on sale in June, the product team was determined to streamline the instrument panel. For the new MDX model, more than 30 buttons have been eliminated. The change was emblematic of the challenge confronting automakers in the age of the connected car. How does a car company give customers the technology they crave without overwhelming them with complicated controls that can impair their ability to drive safely?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are trying to give our customers what they want in a way that\u2019s going to be safe and make sense,\u201d said Steven Feit, a senior Honda engineer on the project. \u201cThat\u2019s the balance we are trying to get to.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Vlasic: The engineers working on Honda\u2019s new Acura MDX luxury sport utility vehicle were obsessed with giving customers more \u2014 more space in the rear seat, more fuel economy from a high-tech engine, and above, all, more apps, maps and connectivity. But there was one feature they wanted less of: buttons. In an effort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}