[theragingbull]

First of all, let me make it clear. I'm not talking about tech like traction control, ABS, ESP and so on.... I'm talking about Automatic Head Lamps, Windscreen Wipers, Climate Control etc. I mean how stupid must you be to not notice rain drops, or the fact that it's getting dark, and how lazy must you be to not turn it on yourself?
Or is this only for people going "wow...my car is so intelligent, it knows it's time to switch on the lights cuz it's dark or adjust the speed of the wipers acc. to the amount of rainfall or adjust the AC as per the passenger wants!"

[aargee]

Though this is a personal choice & taste with people, I agree with several points of yours that, there're certain things that are not required, but improvising on them - yes, very much required.

Originally Posted by theragingbull

I'm talking about Automatic Head Lamps, Windscreen Wipers, Climate Control etc. I mean how stupid must you be to not notice rain drops, or the fact that it's getting dark, and how lazy must you be to not turn it on yourself?

Yes, its really stupid here to see someone not turning on the wipers during a drizzle or headlamps when its dark. However, improvising is a must, like, when it drizzles (the real culprit than the rain), the wipers cleaning (not matter even if you have 10 intermittent steps), efficiency on cleaning the front glass depends on the speed of the rain & the speed of the car. Sometimes, driving very slow will help to clean the glass effectively at the normal speed of the wiper. So I see a necessity for the wipers to be intelligent enough to adjust itself according to the speed of the car & intensity of the rain, again should override with manual intervention.

Climate control is a WOW feature for me to maintain the temperature just like a regular A/C at home. So this is a personal choice for me though.

Certain features like, reverse assistance, tyre pressure guage (or even an instrument to show the alignment issues), the door ajar warning (including bonnet & trunk) etc are all necessary features for me.

[sanstorm]

Although on the face of it, some of these technologies seems insignificant. However the way it evolves makes it desirable in your car. It is like beta of software, you never know how good it can turn up in Ver x.

Anyway, it is up to market to ensure that the real insane are not adopted across and shown door.

I remember my boss saying once - 'If you are doing same thing same way day in and day out (manually), it is insult of human intellect, which is main differentiatior between animals and us.'

It is all about automation and increasing the stress on drivers.

[dushmish]

It is about keeping off the mundane. It is not about being lazy. I have never driven an automatic but I know it will not be much pleasure as compared to a manual shift.

Some of the features, I agree are too much automation but still there are people who like it (or maybe need it).

[rohan_iitr]

I believe that it is nice to have more features, advancements and automation in cars.

But there should always be an option to override it and control things manually if one desires. It should not be that difficult to implement.

A simple example - cars which have automatic transmission still provides ways for the driver to downshift when he needs more power for overtaking, or even select a low gear for climbing an incline.

My personal opinion is that the more the technology advances, the more dumb its users become.

Rohan

[kingofmyworld]

All these features are making humans LAZY! . Though they call it luxury, some or the other way its making people lazy and lazy. What if in the future, carmaker comes out with a so called " intelligent" car which has automatic headlights and wipers with no manual operations and the sensor fails due to some reason when the car is in the middle of nowhere? say on the highway?

[vasudeva]

As for automatic head lamps, I have a car that has that feature, and whether you call me lazy or stupid, at least there is no hazard of not switching on the lights when required and switching them off when the engine is turned off. No battery drainage, and no need to turn on/off the lights.

Climate Control: useful in my car, but I can comfortably manage with manual. Manual provides greater customisation. However, perhaps knobs' design development probably ended about a decade ago, except on small cars.

[recshenoy]

being a gadget freak, i must say i love any kind of gadgets in car , house office and every where. no, i am not a lazy guy, i am just gadget freek

Now coming back cars, i think all those features like climate control, electric ORVM,auto AC, auto lights, follow me home, steering mounted control etc are good to have

PS: even i too think some times, all these automations make men lazy

[clevermax]

Do not agree with the thread starter's viewpoint at all.

So in your perspective, computers are for lazy and stupid people. All sorts of automatic machines, every gadget/machine that human invented for making his life easier.

No way! If there is an automatic feature in my car which saves me from manually operating something, I'll love it. Automatic wiper being the best example.

[McLaren Rulez]

Well given the chaos on our roads, not having to turn on and off wipers, lights, air-conditioning etc. and simply focussing on the driving is a good thing. So more than the lazy/stupid aspect, I'd say its useful. Keeps your mind on what's more important.