Much like Toyota, Hyundai is one of the few automakers that hasn’t completely given up on traditional switchgear. You’ll find a decent number of old-school buttons even in the most recent products. In fact, we previously pointed out how the latest Ioniq 5 and Tucson have more physical controls than before. New research conducted by the company showed that people tend to prefer hard keys to access often-used functions. Shocker, right?
Korea JoongAng Daily visited the Hyundai Design North America studio in California to learn more about what people want based on the automaker’s internal studies. HDNA Vice President Ha Hak-soo admitted Hyundai was initially blown away by Tesla’s revolutionary infotainment with everything embedded into a supersized screen. However, the South Korean company subsequently realized that cramming access to nearly all functions in a display isn’t the best solution.
“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried out putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that. When we tested with our focus group, we realized that people get stressed, annoyed, and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”
Fumbling through a touchscreen to set the temperature or adjust basic functions can be distracting. In contrast, with physical knobs and buttons that are always in the same place, drivers can rely on muscle memory to keep their eyes on the road. We’re not completely against touchscreens, but some controls should be readily accessible. If Hyundai were to redo the research on a global scale, the outcome would likely be the same, as common sense suggests that an all-touchscreen layout is not the ideal solution.
Huge displays can be a distraction, raising safety concerns. Last year, Sang Yup Lee, Head of Hyundai Global Design pointed out that “when you’re driving, it’s hard to control it [the touchscreen], this is why when it’s a hard key it’s easy to sense and feel it.”
Although automakers will never admit this, getting rid of physical buttons and knobs keeps the accountants happy. Using the same screen in multiple cars is an excellent cost-cutting measure. It could be worse as Tesla went a step further and even integrated the gear shifter into the screen.