Overview
- Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius told Autocar that the industry may have pushed digital controls too far and promised the company will reintroduce "the most sensible buttons," a change first discussed publicly over the past weekend.
- The automaker has already begun restoring physical controls, including steering-wheel buttons and a volume knob on the new CLA, and says further buttons will return where they make common tasks easier to do without looking.
- Mercedes will keep its large MBUX Hyperscreen and Superscreen cabin displays, which span multiple integrated screens across the dash and were introduced in 2021, even as it adds back tactile controls.
- Industry peers including Ferrari, Volkswagen and Hyundai have also begun reversing touch-only layouts, a shift driven by customer complaints about in-car usability and by regulators and testers focusing on eyes-on-road distraction.
- Designers face trade-offs because tests give mixed results: some button-heavy cars took longer to do simple tasks than touchscreen rivals, and automakers say careful placement and simple interfaces matter more than the number of physical switches.