Here is why I hate touchscreens

Published 2023-04-30 by Peter Ternström

I hate touchscreens in cars. From being a small display with a map, they now take up the entire centre console, and you’re expected to operate all the car’s functions by tapping a screen. This is a disaster. Let me explain why.

The idea is good. The car is now far more than just a vehicle. You often have a multimedia system integrated into your experience as you get from point A to B. There’s Spotify for music, YouTube in the backseat for the kids, and Google Maps that update your route based on the current traffic situation.

If there’s a traffic jam ahead, you’ll get a prompt asking you to change the route and save time. This is obviously far better than the integrated navigation solution we were used to ten or fifteen years ago, which wasn’t connected to the internet and had no idea of the real-time traffic information.

We have more smart features in the car, and this is a good thing. What I would like to complain about is the user interface. I literally hate using touchscreens when I drive. Changing the volume on the stereo, or lowering the temperature in the car is pure hell when you have to concentrate on the road.

I certainly don’t want to be looking through menus on a big screen in the car while I’m driving at full speed on the Autobahn, or on a winding road in Tuscany.

The trend of big touchscreens is deadly. I repeat: deadly. You can’t remove all the manual knobs and controls and integrate them into a centrally located system. It just doesn’t work.

According to a study by the AAA foundation in the US, it takes over 40 seconds to change destinations through a touchscreen. At highway speeds, that means the driver is distracted for almost a full mile. Changing songs can take almost 10 seconds if the driver has to go through various menu systems. That’s a couple of hundred meters on the Autobahn. Shall we continue?

In the most extreme cases, all the super-important controls, like air conditioning and volume control are also integrated into the touchscreen solution in the middle of the car. The quest for a beautiful driver’s environment has now gotten completely out of hand.

Do I really need to go through several steps on a computer screen to lower the volume of the car or change the song? Also, if the road is curvy or a bit bumpy, the task becomes frustrating. It’s almost impossible to hit the right spot on the screen with the right index finger when the focus should be on the road.

Around 10% of all fatal accidents occur because the driver was distracted. He or she was preoccupied with other things. The result is an accident, often tragic. These statistics are taken from the last ten years by the NTSB in the US. I suspect that the trend of large screens will make the statistics much more dismal in the future.

It makes me very concerned wen car manufacturers introduce new car models with large touchscreen monitors in the centre console. Away with manual controls, in with behind-the-screen functions. This doesn’t feel good at all.

Audi thinks differently. In fact, they do the opposite. They have passed the “peak touchscreen” and are now making much smaller screens in their new cars. They’ve caught on. Instead of having all the controls in one screen, they’ve calmed down a bit.

They now have a slightly smaller screen at the center console. Then they have physical knobs for the two most important inputs: temperature and volume control. You can also change songs by pressing a physical button in front of the shifter.

This is the future. Large screen for map and in-depth car settings by navigating a menu system. This is what you do when you’re standing still at the side of the road. Key functions, ones that are frequently used, like temperature and the stereo controls are available as real, tactile buttons and knobs. These are easy to find and use while driving – The way it should be!

Lamborghini, I am looking at you. Don't you dare keeping the volume and air condition control behind a touchscreen in the Huracan successor. We want the buttons and knobs back.