Car buyers seeking more buttons as touchscreens are passe, believes Hyundai

Walking the same path as Toyota, South Korean auto major Hyundai now believes touchscreen infotainment systems are becoming passe, as consumers are inclining towards buttons. This is a reason why Hyundai is now increasing the number of traditional buttons in its recent cars. For example, the latest Ioniq 5 and Tucson have more conventional buttons than before. The reason behind this shift is new research conducted by the carmaker that revealed car buyers tend to prefer physical keys to access frequently used functions.

Hyundai Design North America (HDNA) Vice President Ha Hak-soo has said to Korea JoongAng Daily that the carmaker was impressed by Tesla's touchscreen infotainment system, which showed how everything can be embedded into a supersized digital screen. However, he also said that Hyundai later realized that cramming access to nearly all the functions in a touchscreen isn’t the best solution, as it distracts the driver's attention, leading to major safety risks. "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," he added.

Why touchscreens become so popular?

Touchscreen infotainment systems have become immensely popular in modern cars. In fact, this feature is one of the major one in influencing the consumers' buying decisions for any car. The touchscreen infotainment system allows a driver to access a plethora of functions in one place, which includes navigation, music, and various other functions of the vehicle. Tesla took the game one notch up by integrating the gear shifter to the touchscreen.

Besides these utilities, the touchscreen display also enhances the visual premiumness of a car cabin enhancing its appeal. These factors have helped the touchscreen infotainment systems to be popular among car buyers. On the other hand, for the automakers integrating various functions into a single digital display means significant cost-cutting compared to offering dedicated switches and buttons for each function.

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