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For years, Mercedes-Benz has relied on touchscreens as the command center of its vehicles. Is it too hot? Tap the screen to set the AC temperature. Want to listen to the news? Tap. Defrost the rear window? Tap, tap, tap. While the automaker has retained some physical controls in its cars, its modern user experience is effectively built around the screen. But that’s about to change. Magnus Östberg, chief software officer for Mercedes-Benz, recently announced that the company would be centering future car design around physical controls instead of screens. “The data shows us physical buttons are better,” Östberg told Autocar at the Munich motor show. He says Mercedes will begin integrating more physical controls into its digitally focused cabins starting in 2026. Mercedes’ announcement is part of a bigger industry trend… with carmakers like Hyundai leading the charge to bring back knobs and buttons to its cars. Earlier this year, fellow German automaker Volkswagen, also announced plans to fix its touchscreen problem, saying that it was “taking a step back to move forward.” After more than a decade of car screens growing bigger and brighter, the auto industry finally seems to be acknowledging what drivers (and science!) has known all along: physical buttons are safer and more pleasant to use. Why automakers went crazy for screens You can partly blame Buick for this mess. The General Motors’ brand introduced the first 3-by-4-inch car touchscreen with the 1986 Buick Riviera. It turned out that drivers found the design distracting and cumbersome, so Buick eventually cancelled it. Still, it serves as an early glimpse of how automakers would eventually come to think about integrating technology into the driver experience. Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, automakers like BMW and Lexus began to integrate small, low-res screens into their cars to handle functions like navigation. But the touchscreen revolution didn’t happen in earnest until 2012 when Elon Musk installed cheap vertical 17-inch displays in his Model S. The sleek, tech-forward design intrigued other automakers, who realized they could cut costs by reducing the number of expensive physical controls in their cars. And sure enough, lots of car companies followed suit. Throughout the 2010s, touchscreens became the default mode of interaction for carmakers across the price spectrum. But screens were not without their problems. Tesla’s reliance on electronic controls has lead to some high profile issues. The screens themselves started failing, leading to a 158,000-vehicle recall for the company. Drivers, meanwhile, didn’t seem to like touchscreens all that much, and science didn’t either. Evidence began mounting that touchscreens, despite their perceived convenience, were actually not all that helpful. The physical controls of the center console of a third-generation Volvo v70/xc70 [Photo: Volvo] In 2022, Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare conducted a comprehensive study of 11 modern touchscreen-equipped cars. It found that physical controls dramatically outperform digital interfaces for driver tasks. Its testing revealed that a 17-year-old Volvo V70 with only physical controls allowed drivers to complete essential tasks in just 10 seconds, while modern cars with touchscreens took anywhere from 23.5 seconds to a disastrous 44.9 seconds to accomplish the same functions. But going back to physical controls is not just about convenienceit’s about safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says any distraction that requires drivers to look away from the road even for a second is a potential accident. Touchscreens, by nature, require drivers to take their eyes off the road to navigate through multiple menu layers in order to perform simple tasks that once required an easy-to-find single physical button press or dial twist. As design expert Amber Case says, “Because buttons are not fixed to specific locations, screens inhibit muscle memory and findability. Touchscreens compete for attention with the driving process, adding to the dangers of distracted driving.” Back to basics All this has lead automakers to reconsider their devotion to the screen. In early 2025, Volkswagen announced a significant policy shift, with the company committing to restore physical controls for essential functions across all future models. Design chief Andreas Mindt acknowledged publicly that the company’s touchscreen-heavy strategy had failed users. He said that cars are not phones, so they require a different interface. Hyundai also reversed direction in late 2024, when they reintroduced physical controls with its Ioniq 5. It came after a 2023 epiphany, when its internal testing revealed driver frustration with capacitive controls during critical moments. The Korean automaker’s research showed that touch-only interfaces create anxiety when drivers need imediate access to vehicle functions. I think its great, designer Chris Kernaghan told Fast Company at the time. Im not dismissing touchscreens in cars entirely, [but] there are certain critical controls that are better suited to good old-fashioned buttons and knobs. As a designer, Im all about tactile feedback whenever possible. It just feels natural to push a button and get an immediate response. You dont get that same sense of control with touchscreens. Manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan maintained hybrid approaches throughout the touchscreen boom, preserving tactile controls alongside digital displays rather than eliminating buttons entirely. Chinese brands also offer hybrid a touchscreen-physical button UX, although some, like the Xiaomi SU7, provide it with an optional full physical control system that attaches magnetically to the dashboard, under the main display. Trend spotting If I were a cynic (and I am), I would say that Mercedes took these steps mostly because there seems to be a reversal to this useless fad. Plus, regulatory pressure is mounting: Europe’s safety testing organization will penalize vehicles starting in 2026 if they lack physical controls for essential safety systems including climate, signals, emergency features, and driver-assistance functions. But Östberg explained that the companys real-world usage datarevealed by its own cars electronicspointed out that something needed to change. A Mercedes spokesperson told Fast Company that consumer feedback played a role in the shift: “We’ve listened closely to customer feedback and analyzed real-world usage data from our software-defined vehicles. Physical controls offer superior usability and comfort for many drivers.” The spokesperson added, “The rollers and these physical buttons are very important for certain age groups and certain populations.” This may be true, but it’s a strange way to frame a decision that is ultimately about making cars safer for everyone. A solution in progress The solution Mercedes has chosen starts with a redesigned steering wheel featuring “a host of rockers, rollers, and buttons” that will become standard across all Mercedes models going forward. This wheel will be fitted to all car models already on sale, with implementation beginning early next year. Mercedes tells me that the manufacturer is reintroducing tactile elements like a rocker for the limiter and Distronic (its cruise control system) and a roller for volume control. These will all be on the steering wheel. The picture of the wheel shows a lot of buttons crammed in its horizontal axis, like an oversize PlayStation gamepada bit complicated, but definitely better than using the display. Is this the solution to the problem? I always found these types of button-heavy wheel designs problematic. In theory, not having to take your hands away from the steering wheel is good. In practice, I find myself looking down to make sure Im clicking the right button. Or missing the target if I dont look. When asked about usability testing for the new GLC wheel controls, Mercedes told me the new steering wheel had undergone extensive testing as part of its development process, though no specific details about the results were provided. The interior of the new electric GLC [Image: Mercedes-Benz] It’s interesting timing for the announcement. Mercedes has just fitted its new GLC SUV model with what is allegedly the biggest screen ever put in a production car: a 39.1-inch display called an MBUX Hyperscreen. It spans the entire dashboard width. As Mercedes-Benz design chief Gorden Wagener acknowledged to Autocar, the company has reached a point where you cannot make the screen much bigger.” Perhaps the industry’s screen-enlargement race has finally reached its logically absurd conclusion. Mercedes plans to add more physical controls elsewhere in future cabins, though Östberg indicated this will likely be limited to SUVs because “in larger cars we have more freedom to package” and buyers of those vehicles “care more about buttons.” When asked about expanding changes beyond the steering wheel, the Mercedes spokesperson told me the company doesnt disclose details of future portfolios but continually evaluates customer needs and preferences.” Maybe this is indicative that the company is still trying to balance cost considerations with user experience, rather than committing fully to what its own data shows works best. Perhaps its FOMO, as the Chinese industry seems to be fully committed to displays everywhere and companies like BYD are poised to dominate the global car industry. In fact, Östberg hinted that different wheel designs might be used depending on location, explaining that “while Europeans like buttons, Asian drivers prefer more touchscreen and voice controls.” This market-specific strategy suggests Mercedes is prioritizing regional preferences over the safety and usability benefits its own data has uncovered. Can AI fix it? At the same time, Mercedes says it is investing heavily in voice command technology, with Östberg noting that voice command usage in the CLA has “tripled” among Mercedes drivers, calling the increase “phenomenal.” This AI integration could represent the future solution to the buttons-versus-screens dilemma. If voice recognition becomes really good rather than the current Larry David level of accuracy, drivers might eventually interact with their cars through natural conversation. This mirrors the prediction of usability expert Jakob Nielsen, who believes that user interfaces will eventually disappear entirely as AI anticipates user needs. In such a future, the current debate about buttons and screens might be irrelevant. Back in the real world, however, things need to change. More manufacturers should embrace the retur to physical controls, even if it will cost them more to make those cars because of the complex electronics that rolling wheels and buttons require. Mercedes deserves credit for acknowledging the touchscreen problem like its VW colleagues have done and attempting to address a real problem with data-driven solutions. But there is still a way to go before we can say automakers are truly prioritizing drivers’ best interests. What will the cars of the future look like? Right now, the industry seems to be hedging its bets.
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E-Commerce
EV sales just hit a new record in the U.S.: This month, theyre on track to make up 12.2% of new car sales, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Meanwhile, gas car sales dropped compared to the same month last year. Buyers are racing to get new electric vehicles before the $7,500 federal tax credit goes away on September 30. When the Trump administration pushed to eliminate the credit in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it inadvertently helped nudge some consumers to switch to EVs earlier that they otherwise might have. Theres nothing like a deadline to get people paying attention, says Josh Boone, executive director of Veloz, a nonprofit focused on electrifying transportation. The organization has seen a surge of traffic on its digital platform that helps consumers choose an EV. The end of the credit also helped temporarily push EV prices down. In August, the average transaction cost for an EV was $44,908a little less than the average gas vehicle, at $45,521. Thats because manufacturers added generous incentives to help sell cars before the deadline. The tax credit has been in place since 2008, under the Bush administration. Now that its disappearing, EV sales are likely to plummet next quarter. Automakers are slowing production and canceling some models. But electric cars arent dead in the U.S., and sales are still likely to grow next year. How much does the tax credit matter? Even though the end of the incentive has spurred sales, the tax credit generally hasnt been the deciding factor for most buyers, says Loren McDonald, who runs an EV data and analysis firm called Chargeonomics. I’ve always believed that its importance has been overplayed, he says. For most people, it was more of a discount than it was an actual incentive to get people over the hump. Most people using the tax credit have had higher incomes, and probably could have afforded the vehicles on their own. Thats still the case now. For a lot of people, if theyre considering the difference of a $50 or $100 a month payment, its like I can deal with that, he says. “What it means is that people with lower income brackets still arent interested. In a recent survey with Morning Consult, analysts at Cox Automotive found that 65% of respondents who were in the market for a new EV said they would still consider an EV without the tax credit. I thought that was a good data point to show that it’s important, but not for everyone, says Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox. The number of affordable EVs keeps growing As EV production scales up and battery costs fall, that helps push cost down. The number of more affordable models is growing. The next-generation Chevy Bolt will enter production later this year. The new Nissan Leaf will start at just under $30,000, with a 300-mile range. Slate Auto, a startup backed by Jeff Bezos, will release an electric truck in the mid-$20,000s next year. (With the tax credit in place, it would have been less than $20k.) Toyota is releasing a new electric C-HR next year. Volvo has said that its new crossover, the EX60, is aiming to get as close as possible to price parity with gas cars. In China, it’s worth noting, EVs are already cheaper than gas cars without subsidies. Plug-in vehicles now make up more than half of new sales in China, with battery electric vehicles alone representing one-third of the market. Technology continues to improve. CATL, the largest EV battery manufacturer, plans to soon release new sodium-ion packs that cost $40 per kilowatt-hour, 20% less than its current lithium iorn phosphate batteries (which are already cheaper than standard lithium-ion batteries). Automakers are increasingly adopting platforms that support multiple EV models, boosting economies of scale. All of this will help, although automakers are also facing headwinds from tariffs. If you consider the total cost of ownership, many EVs are already less expensive than equivalent gas vehicles. They need less maintenance, and charging is cheaper than buying gas. Still, that’s harder to communicate than the sticker price. “The auto industry needs to start educating buyers to be more like fleet buyers, which is they get out their Excel spreadsheet and they calculate the total cost of ownership of the truck over the lifetime,” says McDonald. “They need to do this with electric vehicles. The problem is, if you’re also selling gas vehicles, you’re basically selling against your own cars. And that’s always been one of the problems with the legacy automakers: if they go too far in selling how great EVs are, they’re basically saying, sorry, [gas cars] aren’t that good.” The number of used EVs is also continuing to grow1.1 million EVs were leased over the last few years and will soon be available for resale. The upfront cost of a used EV is already typically comparable (or cheaper) than an equivalent gas car. Those sales have also been surging. Some state and utility incentives are also still available. All of this means that even without the tax credit, the cost of EVs may not necessarily be a large barrier. Charging infrastructure is also improving, and the average range of an EV is already big enough that range anxiety isn’t the challenge that it used to be. Automakers will need to get better at marketing As the tax credit goes away, automakers may have to rethink marketing. McDonald argues that car brands have overrelied on incentives and rebates from the government and utilities. “They’ve focused on all these incentivesnot that it’s a really great car, and it doesn’t require maintenance, and it’s fast, and convenient,” he says. “My hope is that they’re going to do a better job marketing and targeting.” One automaker he recently spoke with said that the brand is now beginning to target likely buyers, such as suburban families with a large garage and income. “They’re finally waking up and realized that doing Super Bowl ads is a waste of time,” he says. “What you really need to do is target the people who are considering a Tesla, and get them to buy yours.” Automakers may continue to offer strong incentives next quarter to help offset the loss of the tax credit. “I think they’ll step in and offer more now,” says Tyson Jominy, senior vice president of data & analytics at J.D. Power. (GM declined to comment on its plans for this story, and Rivian said that it is still working through its incentive plans.)
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E-Commerce
It’s not really possible to cleanly pin down the setting of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Written by Michael Chabon and published in 2000, the story takes place in Brooklyn, in Prague, on the battlefields of World War II, on the top of the Empire State Building, and in the imaginary universe of a superhero comic book. The breadth of locationsphysical and metaphysicalmake for a rollicking read. But when New York’s Met Opera decided to stage an opera version of the book, that globe-crossing, reality-bending narrative presented some very tangible challenges. “It’s a big sweeping novel, so it requires an enormous canvas and a lot of locations,” says Bartlett Sher, director of the opera version of the book, which has just opened the Met’s 20252026 season. “We started workshopping it a couple of years ago, and I realized I can’t do this in the normal way.” [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] To make those leaps in the real time span of a live opera performance, Sher and his team had to take a novel and highly complex approach to its production design. The Met tapped 59, a multidisciplinary stage and experience design studio, to design the sets, lighting, and, crucially, video elements that reveal a narrative that takes place on multiple continents and within the pages of comic books. [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] The story follows two Jewish cousins at the outset of World War II who create a comic book hero whose stories are intended to urge Americans to join the fight against the Nazis. Their comic becomes a hit, but their lives are thrown into chaos as the war unfolds, taking the audience from New York to Prague to the minds of comic book creators. Part of the experiential design agency Journey, 59 developed a production design approach that embraced the story’s location hopping. “The worlds start to be really musically distinct and really visually distinct, and then everything starts to collide together throughout the course of the piece,” says Jenny Melville, principal design director at 59. “It was quite clear early on that particularly the comic book world was going to have a major visual component to the whole design.” [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] Melville has worked on operas and stage plays around the world, and 59 has developed video elements for productions like the Broadway version of the Netflix series Stranger Things and the Met Opera’s 2024 staging of Aida. Melville says that as more and more performances integrate video elements, production designers have to strike a careful balance. “Video design in opera is very much supportive material, an augmentation to the scenic design,” Melville says. “But it’s really critical to never overshadow the live performance on stage.” [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] For The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay opera, video took on an outsized role, especially for scenes involving the creation of the comic book and stories from within its pages. “There are these moments where, really unusually for an opera, the singers stop singing and the video moments take over,” Melville says. That’s partially a function of the narrative, which revolves around the creation of a superhero comic. The impracticality of having the audience watch actors imagining superheroes and drawing comics on stage led to the integration of vivid animated sequences projected on the set. [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] The opera’s modernist score, by composer Mason Bates, also creates moments for the video elements to come into the foreground. The music juggles between the somberness of Europe in World War II, the jazziness of New York City in the 1930s, and a comic book world represented by electronic music. “Because there are these electronic music sections, it’s a really clear divide when we’re a supporting act, which is actually like 90% of the time,” Melville says. [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] The abundance of video elements in the opera presents its own set of technical challenges, especially when it comes to making sure the video synchs up with the musicians in the band pit and the singers on stage. “The timing changes every night, because of course the conductor and the orchestra and all the singers have to just do what feels right in the moment,” says Melville. “We’ve had to break all of our cue structures down into very, very specific time sequences.” [Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera] “We worked very cleverly and carefully to make it work,” says Sher. “And that was fun, but it wasn’t easy.” The hard work on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay opera may pay dividends later on. Sher and 59 are already working together on another production, a musical version of the film La La Land, that is going to rely on a similar level of video integration. “Everything we’ve absorbed on this experience is only going to help redouble our efforts when it comes to that experience,” he says.
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E-Commerce
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