I have been following the progress of this revolutionary vehicle from the beginning and am greatly disappointed over the decision to move forward with an interior design which utilizes a single, center mounted touch screen for all of the secondary vehicle controls.
This disappointing decision to me contradicts the otherwise incredibly unique and logical approach in regards to the rest of the Aptera design.
The significant drawbacks for this type of interface are well documented and it's surprising to me that a better solution utilizing less distracting, ergonomic and more aesthetically pleasing physical controls could not have been found. A direction similar to what was used for the original Typ-1 would have been a far better solution.
I believe the success of Aptera depends largely on it's appeal to those buyers seeking that logical and daring approach which is otherwise absent in the current automotive landscape. Choosing to utilize an unoriginal and inferior interior design interface opposes that belief and may reduce it's appeal to a measurable degree.
Does anyone else agree?
PASSENGER OPTIMIZATION
https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/604eaceaec7c9b0015f915a8 concept of having a folding table to do work in and stuff on a laptop for ex, it can be used outside the car too.
SEATS
also reclining seat and is nice to make use of airspace behind passenger/driver that is often unused cargo space, assuming it doesnt hurt aerodynamics/mass reduction etc. especially useful for passenger who doesnt need to focus of anything as driver does(although driver can use some level of reclining for relaxing sometimes), he can relax more or sleep etc (the position is liek lying down position for relaxing/sleep(is why peopel rather sleep lyign down than sitting like in economy class plane seats), it also distributes user weight over a longer horizontal distance(looking at seat from teh side) which allows less weight pressure on certain bone, nerves and muscles work less to keep body in proper spine position without the pain of improper spinal position (when your back hurts b/c you've been sitting wrong) ). this makes quite a difference when it comes to luxury car vs economy car and the cars in the greyzone in between aptera competes with (2 seater cars like mx5 miata, grand touring bikes,new nissan 400z, the recent smaller versions of mustang and camaro, future stuff etc).
the seat ideally should allow adjusting upper body, lower body, headrest, and thigh positions, but it can also simply be only headrest and whole body adjustment (upper body can be held up to maintain position in the middle seat position picture bellow, its a more extreme version of gordon murrays t.50 driver sitting position i drive in b/c it feels like a good balance between being stressed(alert of road) and layed back relaxed):
the seat ideally should allow adjusting upper body, lower body, headrest, and thigh positions, but it can also simply be only headrest and whole body adjustment (upper body can be held up to maintain position in the middle seat position picture bellow, its a more extreme version of gordon murrays t.50 driver sitting position i drive in b/c it feels like a good balance between being stressed(alert of road) and layed back relaxed). i have normal flat seats and simply place my butt foward and baridge between upper and lower body at the spine is where much of body weight sits on, while i keep upper body and head held upright by tensed muscles, teh tensing forces some helpful stress(awareness) but i sometimes lay back flat to un-tense and relax if i stress to much. maybe with this seat position, average person wouldnt have to change positions like i do. considering this, it may be unnecessary to have sperate upper and lower body seat panels.
the bellow images show how seat can be folded away for more storage space. would be nice if can remove seats with a knob to unscrew seat out (so user doesn't have to carry around a screw driver as most people dont even have one). better to be able to remove seats to store a big object vs tie the object to carry on roof or trailer, adding weight and possibly causing top heavy driving also helpful for weight reduction for hypermiling, something much more impactful in this car than any other.
the seat should have tie down storage net that can be tied at hooks at the left and right of the parts of seat (the upper body, lower body thigh panels) so thing can be tied down to seat to use space as storage when there is no passenger but user cant take off seat b/c user isnt at home at the moment. also the space under knee can be covered with net to make storage use of that space. https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/603bed135c4a450016ca6d2e
lumbar support can be cheap aftermarket fix https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/606e18d7ac384900159c2db9