Talking to a car’s navigation system and having it accurately respond is just one of the myriad improvements we find during this summer’s evaluation of 25 nominees for the 2018 Wards 10 Best User Experiences competition.
For the third year in a row, Wards editors are putting through the paces every new automotive UX system from voice activation and adaptive cruise control to audio systems and phone synching.
The goal of the competition is to recognize new technologies that make it easy for a driver to interact with a vehicle and its controls. All vehicles with new or significantly improved UX features were eligible, and there is no price cap for entries.
Judging and final scoring wrap up this week, and the winners will be announced Sept. 18.
The vehicles and the UX designers and engineers behind them will be recognized Oct. 2 at the WardsAuto User Experience Conference at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, MI. To register for the conference, click here.
Advances in voice recognition are evident in many of this year’s entries as natural voice commands, simplified menus, quicker response times and greater accuracy of those responses begin to allow reliance on these hands-free systems as primary UX controllers instead of sources of frustration.
Another takeaway from this year’s evaluations: Adaptive cruise control is improving overall, but lane-keeping assistance remains iffy. That said, some vehicles that do have strong lane-keeping systems are rivaling class-leading Cadillac Super Cruise at handling the steering.
Finally, UX designers are finding success balancing touchscreen control with the right combination of hard buttons and knobs without cluttering the interior.
