In the Details: Rain Sensor
The evolution of auto design is relatively slow due to a number of factors. I don’t expect to find mind-blowing innovation in a new car, but I am typically delighted, or annoyed, by the little details. A rain-sensing windshield isn’t all that new a feature, but this is the first time I’ve owned a car with one.
For the extent of my years as a licensed driver, I have never liked the way intermittent windshield wipers work. The amount of water hitting the windshield varies based on the amount of rain falling, the speed at which you are moving, the amount of spray being kicked up by the vehicles in front of you, and other environmental factors (e.g. tunnels, trees, etc.). As a result, one must constantly change the setting. The less water there is, the more difficult it is to find the right delay.
Our Mazda5 allows you to set the sensitivity of the rain detection. This may take a little work, but once you get it, you can forget it. Now the car can decide when to trigger the wipers based on need, rather than a strict duration. That’s one less thing the driver has to worry about fooling with.
This is certainly a case in which the best interface is no interface. Or, as Aza Raskin put it in his presentation at Interaction 08:
“What’s better than a shovel? A hole.”