Drivers may finally be winning the fight against capacitive controls as automakers return to physical buttons in new cars
Mercedes has pushed touchscreen infotainment systems to new highs with the 39.1-inch pillar-to-pillar display in the electric GLC it unveiled at the Munich Motor Show last week. But at the same time another less obvious detail on the GLC served as an admission that going all in on touchscreens is a backwards, not forwards step.
The giveaway is a new steering wheel covered in real, pushable buttons and thumb-able rollers, something Mercedes developed after realizing that many customers prefer old-fashioned hard keys and dials. And the GLC is no aberration. Mercedes fits the same wheel to the new CLA Shooting Brake and will roll it out across its range.
Buttons Make a Comeback. Sort Of
But the strategy comes too late for the CLA sedan launched earlier this year, which has some wheel-mounted buttons, but not the rollers, and will have to wait for an update to get the new setup. The redesigned steering wheel is a cost-effective way of putting more buttons back in cars because it requires no changes to the dashboard, and also retains the slick touchscreen-focused appearance.
Also: Mercedes Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop With Massive Screens
“You can see a difference if you move from the CLA [sedan], which has a touchscreen and fewer hard buttons, to the GLC, where we put back the rollers and buttons, because we see in the data that the rollers and these physical buttons are very important for certain age groups and certain populations,” Mercedes’ software boss, Magnus Östberg told Autocar.
“So having that balance between physical buttons and the touch is extremely important for us,” he explained. “We’re completely data-driven, seeing that what is actually something that is used high-frequency, the data shows us the physical buttons are better, and that’s why we put them back in.”
Following the Data
Östberg mentions physical buttons being important to certain (implied: older) age groups, but there are also region-based differences in attitudes to touchscreens to consider. For example, European drivers generally prefer old-fashioned physical buttons, the magazine’s report says, while Asian drivers gravitate towards touchscreens and voice assistants.
The data that helped inform Mercedes’ button rethink comes from the CLA, the company’s first software-defined vehicle, which allowed it to collect information about how drivers use their cars.
Not Just Mercedes
Mercedes isn’t the only company committed to putting more buttons back into new cars. VW is also reversing course, the ID. Polo ushering in a new design of dashboard with a bank of physical switches beneath the touchscreen.
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Chris is a seasoned automotive journalist with over two decades of experience. He has worked… Read full bio

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