Mercedes-Benz admits mistake and brings back physical buttons in cars
Kyiv • UNN
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius said the auto industry went too far in abandoning physical buttons, and the company plans to bring some of them back. New models, such as the CLA, have already received a physical volume control on the steering wheel.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius stated that the automotive industry has gone too far in abandoning physical controls. The company plans to bring back some buttons in car interiors. This is reported by InsideEVs, writes UNN.
Details
It is noted that in recent years, two interrelated trends in car design have emerged that irritated customers perhaps more than anything else: huge tablet-sized displays in the center of the dashboard and the abandonment of physical buttons.
German automakers have also not stayed away from this trend. Brands began competing to see who could install the largest screen on the dashboard while integrating convenient controls into it. Mercedes-Benz may have won this race in terms of the sheer size of the display, but its CEO admits: the company may have slightly "overdone it." Not with the size of the screens, but with the removal of physical buttons and replacing them with touch elements on the screen.
The automotive industry as a whole may have gone a bit too far" in the direction of digital control
He noted that Mercedes is already working on bringing back more buttons. The new CLA has a physical volume control on the steering wheel instead of a touch slider.
"Sometimes you get a bit ahead of your time and create technology for the sake of technology itself, and then you might forget a little about the customer," said Källenius. "So from now on, you will see us bringing back the most sensible and necessary buttons."
Many other automakers share this opinion. Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Porsche are also moving away from excessive screens and gradually returning to more physical controls. Scout Motors is even building its entire brand around retro style and, yes, a large number of pleasant-to-use buttons and switches.
This trend is also supported by safety advocates. Car assessment programs such as the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) have begun penalizing manufacturers for omitting certain physical controls. Now German companies promise to bring back at least some of the knobs, levers, and switches.
This does not mean that everything will return to interiors like the Mercedes-Benz W123 cabin with its multitude of tactile elements. Judging by Källenius's words, not all buttons will return, but only the "most appropriate" ones. He also noted that Mercedes continues to improve voice control—a direction that automakers like Tesla and Rivian are actively focusing on today.