Dedicated Touch-Sensitive Buttons in Addition to Touchscreen Creates Foundation for Far More Usable System
Strategy Analytics – A new UX evaluation from Strategy Analytics’ In-vehicle UX (IVX) group has assessed the 2020 Peugeot e-208 infotainment system and relevant HMI . Infotainment systems aboard up-market compact EVs have several unique requirements and Peugeot can be commended for several design decisions. Hard keys allow for easier menu navigation and HVAC manipulation, media and phone menus are well-designed on the touchscreen and charging timers are utilitarian and easy to use. But good internal design decisions do not compensate for clumsy organization of sat nav features and an inflexible voice-recognition system.
Overall, the 2020 Peugeot e-208’s infotainment system was ranked in the middle-lower tier of all vehicles evaluated thus far in Strategy Analytics’ proprietary infotainment benchmark algorithm – a ranking system derived by how well a car’s available features correspond to Strategy Analytics’ existing data on consumer interest in advanced infotainment features.
Derek Viita , Senior Analyst, IVX and report author commented, “Focusing on infotainment design, the Peugeot e-208 compares somewhat favorably to other touch-and-voice-centric systems recently evaluated by Strategy Analytics. For example, while the 2020 Volkswagen Golf VIII aimed for a “spartan” look that all but eliminated separate hard key controls, Peugeot has kept a set of dedicated touch-sensitive buttons immediately below the touchscreen. Though a bank of buttons certainly is not as visually appealing as a glossy touchscreen, it creates a foundation for a far more usable system.”
Continued Viita, “But unfortunately the presence of hard keys did not distract from a number of issues with the e-208 system as a whole. Its voice recognition system was quite inflexible and often relied on nonsensical utterances for core in-car tasks. Furthermore, though each individual satnav design decision around maximizing POI information makes sense in isolation, the resulting complete system was unreadable and barely useable for a driver.”
Added Chris Schreiner, Director IVX , “Peugeot’s goal was to aim “slightly up-market” for EVs, but competition is stiff with luxury players like Porsche and higher-volume makes like Honda introducing EVs with capable-to-impressive infotainment systems. The e-208’s hardware design strategy is commendable, but its poor voice UX and haphazard digital UI will not win out in the long run.”
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