Giant Touchscreens in Cars Might Have Peaked
With new technology on the rise, large touchscreens in cars could be on their way out. Was this just a passing fad in the industry?
Written by Allison Stone
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Do you long for the days before every car came with a giant touchscreen-based infotainment system? We’ve come a long way since the first glitchy in-car GPS systems, but is controlling everything from the radio to the air conditioner through a single touch screen a bridge too far? Some industry experts agree car touchscreens have reached their peak.
While we’re certainly past the days of the 6-CD changer in the trunk or shuffling through cassette tapes, recent trends in changing consumer tastes show that big touchscreens may be on their way out in lieu of
new technology.
What do professional car designers think about giant touchscreens?
A discussion in a recent live stream from
Car Design News
about the future of luxury car interiors sparked a discussion on the fate of the large screen."Everything has its peak, and probably screens have," said interior design manager at Polestar Conny Blommé, as reported by
TheDrive.com
. "Most of the time, you're traveling in a car, and you enjoy the view more than you enjoy the screens."Industry experts commiserated on what could replace screens, what the screens of the future will look like, and how the driving experience overall will change as we adapt to new technology.
MORE: GM Finally Kills a Feature That Consumers Never Wanted in the First Place
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What’s next for car touchscreens?
Among others in the live stream, head of BMW i Interior Design Matthias Junghanns also speculated on the future of large screens in cars. "Is it the big screen that counts? I'm personally convinced that these black glass surfaces in the car interiors are... we will leave that behind, sooner or later," said Junghanns.
He predicts a future "where you have all the intelligence of your car at your fingertips, but interfaces that just appear when you need them, and when you want them."
High-tech touchscreen technology in cars hasn’t always had a great reputation, either. Some touchscreen technology, like
Tesla’s in-car gameplay
, has been criticized for promoting distracted driving. While many new models are still boasting tons of real estate for their in-car touchscreens, some recent concepts are featuring smaller, more integrated screens in their design. Rather than standing out as the centerpiece of the dashboard, some touchscreens blend seamlessly into the instrument area as a more subtle and understated design feature.
New tech leads to new design
In the automotive world, design often follows technology, and the same can be said for cars that are currently operated by touchscreens. As technology changes, the design of interiors will change with it.
Much like
autonomous driving technology
, perhaps the interior controls of the car will become more intuitive and intelligent to interpret driver needs, resulting in less need for screens. With the advent of smart home devices, consumers have become accustomed to being able to speak their needs hands-free into a voice-activated device. Voice recognition technology is already available in some luxury cars and could become the norm for all future vehicles.
Nissan is even working on something called Brain-to-Vehicle technology, and studying how drivers can communicate with their cars by simply using brain waves.
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