Thread by @jmspool

Great thinking. However, here’s why you’re wrong:

If you own a car made in the last 10 years, it has as many as 100 computers with possibly 500 or more sensors collecting thousands of data points per second.

Do you have access to more a than a fraction of that data? No. Why not?

Because it does you no good.

Nobody can deal with all that data. It’s just beyond our processing capabilities.

So, practically all of it is hidden from the driver. Almost none of it is revealed. Most drivers don’t even know the car collects it.

This shoots down your theory about how users need flexibility to use data in unexpected and creative ways.

What data should have been surfaced to let them do that? Can you even name one thing?

Let’s look at the data that *is* revealed in most vehicles. We have a speedometer, fuel gauge, engine coolant temperature, maybe a tachometer, battery charge. Door sensors, tire sensors (thanks F150), safety systems alerts.

Why those? Are they the most useful?

Other than the safety systems, no.

They’ve been chosen for historical purposes only. They are vestigial remnants of mechanical systems.

What about the edge conditions you cited?

Closed track recreation?
Outrunning a natural disaster?

Really?!? Is that the best you can do? 😊

How frequently do drivers need to do that? Once a week? A month? A lifetime?

I bet it’s far less than once a lifetime.

So, is your answer that we clutter and complicate the users’ life for the random, less-than-once-a-lifetime chance that someone is racing on a closed track when a tornado comes from behind that they suddenly need to outrun?

I think shark attacks are more common.

In conclusion, it’s a pipe dream that in this day and age we need to surface all the data in a dashboard for unexpected and creative use.

That’s just a result of incomplete research.

We should be better at identifying those cases that might be needed and find elegant designs.