If you sat in a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle recently, you’ve noticed that there are more screens than ever before—and their size has expanded massively too from only a few years ago.
The tri-screen MBUX Hyperscreen setup, for example, which can measure up to 56 inches wide in some high-end models, is the largest display in a Mercedes-Benz production car, spanning from one side to the other of the dashboard.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Realizes Things Might Have Gone A Bit Too Far
Mercedes-Benz
Screen-heavy interiors have been criticized in recent years by customers because they have led to a massive reduction in the number of physical buttons. With an increasing number of controls moved from real switches to screens, it’s not surprising that many owners have complained about this.
Speaking recently with British car media, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius has acknowledged such concerns, noting that “the industry as a while might have gone a little bit too far” toward digital controls, noting that the Stuttgart-based automaker is trying to fix things in this respect.
The executive told Autocar that Mercedes-Benz is bringing back actual buttons such as physical controls on the steering wheels of its cars. “Sometimes you get a bit ahead of yourself and do technology for the sake of technology and maybe forget a little bit about the customer. So from now on, you will see us reintroduce the most sensible buttons,” Källenius said.
Ola Källenius Doesn’t Think Mercedes Is “At Maximum Screen”
Sadly, that’s where the good news ends for drivers who prefer physical buttons to screens. Mercedes’ head honcho suggests we’ve seen nothing yet when it comes to screens. “I don’t think we’re at maximum screen, but we are at low buttons,” Källenius told Auto Express when asked how Mercedes interiors would continue to evolve from the current models.
Does that mean Mercedes-Benz may put even more screens inside its cars? On a vehicle fitted with the full-size MBUX Hyperscreen (and even the smaller Superscreen setup found in cars like the new CLA), it’s hard to imagine where more screens could fit besides the center console. On the door cards? On the headliner?
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It remains to be seen, but until then, you should know that Källenius is very proud of the latest displays found in current Mercedes-Benz models, even though their arrival has coincided with a drastic reduction in the number of physical buttons. The latest CLA, for example, features just four buttons, a volume scroller, and the hazard switch; for everything else, the driver needs to access the display.
“We spend countless hours on UI [user interface]. I spend hours every year discussing this with our engineers and we joke it needs to be so easy that either a five-year-old kid or a Mercedes board member can use it,” Källenius told Autocar. “That is the hurdle, and once you familiarize yourself with it, it becomes second nature.”
Does it indeed? Owners of latest-generation Mercedes vehicles, feel free to chime in.
