When the first rotary pushbuttons (called 'iDrive') were installed in BMWs their drivers felt overtaxed. They felt that they were being intellectually overburdened and threatened to boycott the products. Whether this panic was launched by the press or not, it has in the meantime, been completely silenced.

If the component has been appropriately programmed it is simply practical, the monitor can be placed relatively high up near the windscreen and the operating unit can be installed within comfortable reach. It is important that there be only a few buttons in the vicinity of the rotary knob, pretty soon one should be able to operate them without having to look down.

Once again, it's typical that this feature first appeared in the top of the range models, because of course, here the added cost doesn't make that much difference, but also because of the unmanageable multitude of functions. Originally thought of purely to operate the multimedia system, it has now crept into almost all areas of the motor cars operation.

The rotary pushbutton is actually a pushbutton selector, in the simplest case it enables the confirmation of the selected menu point by pressing it down. There is at least one additional switch, which makes it possible to cancel the selection made. In favourable cases the whole thing is provided with a feedback function.

The simplest form of the feedback would be the clicking into place. You may know about this from the sliding regulators, e.g., for the heating system of old-timers. In a flash one could shift the slider a bit too far. Clicking into place makes it easier to know exactly where you are. With the voice output feature the computer can comment on the selection or simply confirm the menu point selected.

Very practical, and also state-of-the art technology, is a counter-resistance in the rotary pushbutton selection. Earlier it used to be a stronger resistance, e.g., when one wanted to press the gas pedal past a certain point. Nowadays, a sort of stepping motor is used, where a counter resistance helps to lead to the selection, thus preventing senseless actions.

The only thing the selection knob cannot manage, at least up to now, is the input of letters, which, e.g., is indispensible for the finding of a navigation target quickly. In this case, there are newer systems which have a small touchpad, just big enough for one to draw a letter on, which can then be repeated by the voice output function. 06/12

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