Posted on 04/17/2026 9:56:22 AM PDT by libh8er
Screens run new cars now. Whether we like it or not, every dashboard has a giant tablet in the middle and another screen where the gauges used to be. Some of them blend into the dash like they belong. Others stick out like someone glued an iPad to the top. Either way, they run almost everything in the cabin.
It wasn’t always like this. But like most tech trends, the shift happened eventually, and for reasons no one really asked for. Suddenly your radio, your AC, and even simple stuff like the headlight switch lives somewhere inside a maze of menus. One nasty bump on the road and your finger is hitting everything except what you meant to touch.
So how did we end up here? And can the industry backtrack? The story comes down to money, timing, and a long chain of decisions that snowballed.
The First Wave (Late 80s) The whole thing started as an engineering flex, not because of a need. Not a consumer request. Just tech nerds seeing what they could cram into a car.
The first in-car touchscreen showed up in 1986, of all brands, in a Buick. The Riviera’s Graphic Control Interface used a tiny CRT screen that controlled the radio, HVAC, and even showed basic diagnostics. It looked like a mini ATM and was way too early for its time.
Drivers didn’t get it. GM eventually backed off the idea, and touchscreens basically disappeared throughout the 1990s while underlying tech kept evolving.
Screens Become Luxury (2000s) Screens crept back in during the early 2000s. BMW made a splash with the 2001 7 Series and its first-generation iDrive system. It wasn’t a touchscreen (it used a knob) but it changed everything. Even though it was buggy, confusing, and slow, it pushed other automakers to jump in.
Back then, these screens were small and simple. They were more like a Palm Pilot, not an iPhone. And society felt the same way about tech. It mattered, but it wasn’t controlling our lives yet.
Volvo even used pop-up screens that hid inside the dash. It was a cool “only when you need it” kind of thing. A design philosophy you almost never see now.
Two big things pushed screens further:
GPS boom: By the mid-2000s, Garmin and TomTom units were stuck on windshields everywhere. Automakers saw that and decided they needed their own built-in systems.
Backup cameras: They popped up in 2001 and went from “weird luxury thing” to “must-have” as cars got bigger and visibility got worse.
But the biggest push was something simple: screens got dirt cheap. LED manufacturing exploded, prices fell, and suddenly it cost automakers less to install a screen than to design and engineer a whole row of physical buttons.
Then the 2008 recession hit. Everyone needed to cut costs. Buttons were more expensive. Screens were the easy answer.
iPhone, Tesla, and the Big Shift (2010s) Everything changed in the 2010s.
The Tesla Model S landed in 2012 with a giant 17-inch screen and barely any buttons. It looked futuristic and, more importantly for automakers, it was simple to build. Even brands that had no interest in EVs copied the screen-heavy vibe immediately.
At the same time, our phones were taking over our lives. Phones kept getting faster while car software lagged far behind. Most people hold onto a car for years, but swap phones every couple of seasons. Car tech just couldn’t keep up.
Then came Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2015, and everything snapped into place. People stopped caring about built-in car software as long as the screen mirrored their iPhone. Automakers took that as a green light to go even harder on touchscreens.
Backup cameras became legally required in 2018, officially locking in “every car must have a screen” as federal law.
The Overload Era (2020–Today) The pandemic years overlapped with massive EV investments, and software became the backbone of everything. Running it all through a touchscreen was simply cheaper.
Then automakers realized screens unlocked something else: subscriptions. If a feature lives inside software, they can charge monthly for it. Heated seats, extra power, fancy lighting…doesn’t matter. A screen makes that possible.
And when people started getting tired of screens? Automakers didn’t back off. They just made the screens bigger. Giant passenger screens. Full-width displays. Touch-controlled air vents. The BMW i7 has a rear-roof-mounted theater screen for some backseat entertainment now!
The Backlash and a Tiny Bit of Hope Drivers are pushing back. Surveys show people want buttons again. Big, simple, physical buttons you can use without looking. Some brands are listening. Hyundai added buttons back to the Ioniq 5. VW promised to backtrack. Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Genesis, and others are keeping physical controls alive.
But don’t expect dashboards full of knobs and switches to suddenly reappear. Screens are cheaper. They’re not going away completely.
There’s one exception though: gauge clusters.
Some high-end brands are quietly moving back to analog gauges because they look special and give a car more character. Bugatti is one example. A physical speedometer still feels magical in a way a blank digital panel never will.
If change comes, it’ll be slow. Screens rule the modern car, and for now, the industry has no real reason to let go.
BMW. It is essentially all electronic controls with a single knob in the center console.
I have a Mercedes with essentially the same thing. I was trying to change the radio from fm to am and couldn’t figure it out. lol. Drove into the dealer and told them. He laughed and said….just talk to it. It has a voice button that you can talk and tell it what you want.
“This seems to be widely debated but it doesn’t seem like the difference is much either way.”
But the answer is always the same. Electric windows are heavier.
Lol...and “adaptive cruise control” functions by maintaining following distance behind the vehicle in front of you by using by varying the pressure placed on the throttle.
People get lazy and let technology make their decisions for them. What’s next, self-driving cars?!?
Sheesh
But, I’m probably just off my meds, so I’ll now go take my geritol.
But the simple $12 watches at Amazon will tell the same time.
They are cheap. I can run an entire production line on a $50 HMI touch screen. Inputs and outputs are digital
I am retired and I leave my iPhone at home unless I am traveling. My latest hassle was I had to turn on Siri for CarPlay to work. It took me a few minutes at a rest stop to figure it out. You have both smart phones and vehicle updates battling it out..
I rented a car that had a screen. I had trouble setting up the radio stations then while driving I discovered that I could not change stations easily. My finger was bobbing up and down from the road and I could not hit the station I wanted.
I much prefer buttons!
Hey, I like my screens. Knock it off@!
Not that much. I constantly see that claim, but I never see the numbers.
I like ‘em all.
Screens help a lot in aircraft cockpits, and cars would be the same if those manufacturers knew how to make decent screen layouts.
I refer to this as,”on off bake.” Enough with the 12 steps to do anything. Cars, ovens, HVAC the list goes on and on. And most of it is not intuitive.
I’m not talking about turning the AUDIO on or off. I’m talking about turning on the RADIO. We could only listen to streaming from my wife’s phone until I googled how to use the RADIO.
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