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Touchscreen dashboards have finally taken over and ruined driving [View all]
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/touchscreen-dashboards-have-taken-over/Physical buttons are being consigned to history – but trying to prod a screen while navigating our famously poor road surfaces isn’t easy
James Foxall
23 January 2025 7:30am GMT
2021 Mercedes EQS
1980 Mercedes W123
Regarding how we interact with our cars, whether petrol or electric, victory has gone to the touchscreen – at least as far as one premium manufacturer is concerned. Despite overwhelming safety evidence to the contrary, BMW has decided that selecting in-car functions using its intuitive rotary controller will be for used-car buyers only.
On BMW’s next-generation Neue Klasse cars, beginning with the iX3 SUV launching this summer, drivers will have no choice but to use touchscreens. Its German rival Mercedes even offers a full-width dashboard consisting of three screens, called Hyperscreen (pictured above in the EQS, compared with the analogue, hewn-from-solid facia of the 1980s W123 Mercedes model).
They won’t be alone. An S&P Global Mobility survey of car owners found that 97 per cent of new cars released after 2023 contain at least one touchscreen.
...
Why touchscreens took over
Chris Longmore, from the automotive design consultancy Drive, believes the touchscreen takeover is largely cost-driven. He said: “Tesla showed the way. By having everything on the screen, you can reduce the tooling needed to make switches and maybe going forwards do away with centre consoles altogether and [the cost of] making the panels you need for them.”
On BMW’s next-generation Neue Klasse cars, beginning with the iX3 SUV launching this summer, drivers will have no choice but to use touchscreens. Its German rival Mercedes even offers a full-width dashboard consisting of three screens, called Hyperscreen (pictured above in the EQS, compared with the analogue, hewn-from-solid facia of the 1980s W123 Mercedes model).
They won’t be alone. An S&P Global Mobility survey of car owners found that 97 per cent of new cars released after 2023 contain at least one touchscreen.
...
Why touchscreens took over
Chris Longmore, from the automotive design consultancy Drive, believes the touchscreen takeover is largely cost-driven. He said: “Tesla showed the way. By having everything on the screen, you can reduce the tooling needed to make switches and maybe going forwards do away with centre consoles altogether and [the cost of] making the panels you need for them.”
More at the link.
All my idiot touchscreen (2018) does is play the radio, and cycle through services that I don't get, and it's still too distracting for all the blind curves in my area.
8 replies
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