There’s a growing sense that the car industry has finally realised it got a bit carried away with touchscreens.
For years, the big central display became the easiest shorthand for a modern car interior. The bigger the screen and the fewer buttons around it, the more futuristic a car was supposed to look. A row of proper switches? How terribly old-fashioned.
Except it turns out that drivers quite like being able to turn on the wipers, adjust the temperature or switch on the foglights without taking their eyes off the road and prodding their way through three layers of menus.
China has now decided enough is enough. From 1 July 2027, all newly manufactured cars in China will have to use physical controls for 19 core safety functions. Indicators, hazard lights, gear selection, wipers and emergency SOS calls are among the features that can no longer be hidden exclusively in a touchscreen.
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The new rules even specify that buttons or switches must be at least 10 mm by 10 mm, with Chinese characters as well as the usual graphics. Simply labelling something “AC” or “PWR” won’t do.
It’s a striking move from the country that has probably done more than anyone to normalise the giant-screen, minimal-button cabin. Many of the latest Chinese electric cars are hugely impressive, but some can make you feel as though you need an IT qualification before you can demist the windscreen.
And China isn’t stopping at buttons. It is also requiring more obvious mechanical door releases, following concerns about hidden electronic door handles in an emergency, while yoke-style steering wheels are being pushed out, too.
The timing was particularly interesting because, last week, I sat down with Volkswagen Group’s chief quality officer, Dr Andreas Krepp, at the German Car of the Year event where I’m a judge and had just been driving some of Volkswagen’s latest cars.
We had a wide-ranging chat about what quality means in a modern car; Krepp’s views were unsurprisingly fascinating, especially as he has been with Volkswagen Group for 34 years and worked in China, Russia, the US and Europe. He’s seen more than a few changes in the way cars are designed.
Krepp was remarkably candid about the industry’s obsession with turning electric cars into something that looked like it had landed from another planet.
“We thought the customer wanted spaceship,” he told me. “And there are a lot of customers!”
Krepp was speaking to me after I’d driven the new Volkswagen ID.3, one of a new breed of Volkswagen looking to right the wrongs of recent models that had been criticised due to their over-reliance on touchscreens and poor quality.
“Look at new cars right now — even the Chinese are going back to some buttons. It’s not only Volkswagen, it’s everywhere,” he said.
Volkswagen’s move to haptic sliders and menus for everyday functions was one of those ideas that probably looked lovely in a design presentation but was much less appealing when you were trying to change the cabin temperature on a damp British morning.
The good news is that Volkswagen seems to have got the message. The new ID.3 Neo is brilliant; it’s much more polished and grown-up. It’s still recognisably an ID.3, but there’s a more uplifting sense of quality, with better materials and a cabin that feels less like an experiment.
And, crucially, VW is bringing back proper physical controls for the jobs that should always be easy. It sounds like a small thing, but it changes the whole experience. You don’t have to look down to find a control. Your fingers can do the work while your eyes stay where they should be.
That doesn’t mean every screen should be ripped from every dashboard and replaced with a forest of plastic buttons. Screens are brilliant for navigation, reversing cameras, music, setting up the car and all the other less urgent stuff that benefits from a big, clear display.
The issue has always been the things you use constantly while driving: temperature, demisting, volume, wipers, driving modes. Things where a quick glance can become a longer one, and where a simple knob, button or stalk does the job far better.
Voice control can help, too. In fact, Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer gave me a very convincing view of where that is going. He believes it will become a major part of the way we interact with cars, provided it works properly every time. So could voice control replace buttons?
“I think if we get it to be totally flawless, yes, and we’re getting there,” Zellmer said. “So the answer is yes.”
He is right that voice can do things no switch or screen can manage particularly well. Asking your car what bakery is around the corner, whether there is anything interesting to keep the kids amused nearby or where you might find a parking space is much more natural as a conversation than as a touchscreen task.
“You’re going to talk to your car and your car is going to talk to you and it’s going to be a conversation,” said Zellmer.
That sounds great, and it will be great when it works. But voice control should be an extra layer of convenience, not an excuse to remove the basics.
There are plenty of times when you don’t want to speak to your car. You might have passengers sleeping, children shouting, music playing or simply not fancy announcing to everyone that your backside is cold and you would like the heated seat switched on.
A proper button is instant, silent and reassuringly reliable, especially when muscle memory kicks in. You press it, something happens, job done. Perhaps there should be legislation that means certain controls are always in a certain place. I’ve played ‘hunt the hazard light switch’ a little too often.
The best future cabin won’t be all buttons, all screens or all voice. It will use each one for the things it does best. Voice for the clever, conversational stuff. Screens for information and settings. Physical controls for the functions you need quickly, regularly and without having to take your attention away from driving.
China’s new rules may look like a step backwards to some, but they are really a step towards a more sensible balance. And after a few years of car interiors trying very hard to look like spaceships, a few well-placed buttons feel rather refreshingly human.
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