New car owners don't want a mother-in-law or teacher on board

A study by J.D. Power on North American drivers shows the most appreciated car technologies, but especially the most hated ones. 82,000 buyers were asked their opinion.

J.D. Power, an American company specializing in automotive market analysis, aksed the opinion of 82,000 American buyers, 90 days after purchasing their new car. The study particularly focused on technological equipment on board. The goal was to know which ones were considered useful and which others were considered completely useless or even annoying.

Hands-free

The most criticized technology is gesture controls. They posed a problem for 43.4% of owners, particularly in getting to know gestures. 21% even found that they lacked in functionality. For exmple, if your passenger tends to gesture a lot while talking, your car may do things you didn't ask for. Recognition solutions such as fingerprint readers or facial recognition are also not appreciated. Another fucntion which is not convincing: passanger screen. This 3rd screen is not yet very common, but it is supposed to allow the passenger to entertain themselves or control the infotainment and comfort on board. It is considered really useless, even disturbing.

Driving aids

ADAS driving assistance systems are appreciated in varying degrees. Those that tend to want to do the job on behalf of the driver are not very popular. Semi-autonomous driving, for example, obtained a low score of perceived usefulness. Indeed most drivers are capable of driving by themselves. We can also imagine that they don't appreciate having a virtual teacher or mother-in-law permanently at their side. On the other hand, most owners appreciate functions that directly address their concerns. In particular, blind spot warnings and the rear view camera. Intelligent air conditioning is also part of the desired technologies.