Consumers are continuing to voice their displeasure against the auto industry’s trend of replacing their tactile buttons with touchscreens. As car AV advances, new luxury models are getting more and more ambitious with their control panels and infotainment centers, from full-car touchscreen control to ultra-wide displays that cover the entire dashboard. Despite these trends, consumer surveys have shown that most drivers find more screens to be unnecessary at best, and even dangerous at worst.
Mercedes says “no thanks” to Apple’s idea of complete car AV control
Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai has come out to confirm these claims, in an interview first reported by InsideEVs.
“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” HDNA Vice President Ha Hak-soo told Korea JoongAng Daily. “When we tested with our focus group, we realized that people get stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”
Hyundai has already started to take a hybrid approach to their control mechanisms, with recent models featuring touch-controls for non-essential functions like media playback and entertainment, while tactile buttons have returned to being the standard for quick adjustments, like heat and air conditioning.
