Tesla’s vehicles have been setting the standards for traditional automakers in a handful of ways — the latest being the onset of a centralized touchscreen instead of buttons. Despite some recent regulator concerns over what activities the screen can be used for, several automakers have already been or are now putting out vehicles with a similarly-styled screen.
Automakers such as General Motors, Volvo, Stellantis, and many others have unveiled their own versions of the touchscreen panels in recent releases, as Inverse reports. Tesla first added the feature to its Model S back in 2012, when touchscreens in vehicles were but a twinkle in the eyes of the auto industry.
“I don’t think anyone thought virtualized switches was something people would accept five years ago,” said Nichole Kraatz, GM’s chief engineer of battery-electric trucks. “Everyone wanted a hundred buttons everywhere.”
GM unveiled the interior of its Chevy Silverado EV at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which included, unsurprisingly, a 17-inch touchscreen.
But once implemented, automakers discovered something unavoidable: touchscreens offered a more adaptable interface than buttons, and they could easily be updated on an ongoing basis through over-the-air software updates — unlike permanent, tactile control buttons.
“We’re analog animals, and we can only contemplate so many things at once,” explains Ralph Gilles, global head of design for Stellantis. “In our research, people like a tactile interface. With screens, we can change the function of the interior very quickly and introduce features without needing to create a button for it. It’s infinitely updatable,” Gilles added.
Still, some have aired concerns about safety amidst huge, potentially distracting touchscreens being installed in cars today. According to Automotive News, one such party was the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which had opened an investigation into Tesla because the automaker updated the vehicle’s software to allow passengers play some games on the touchscreen.
Tesla has already revoked the feature and has partially responded to the NHTSA’s investigation, requesting the utmost confidentiality.
Additionally, the potential for the ecosystem to extend well beyond the touchscreen and the car’s software is something Tesla has explored through its mobile app. Volvo is even planning to integrate the car’s touchscreen and software with smart home devices, as Director of Digital Experiences David Holecek details.
“We are bringing the car as a native device into the Google Home ecosystem,” says Holecek. “It will enable and open up a lot of new experiences as you allow for other services to interact with the car. And it’s not just about the interaction, but also sharing information about vehicle status, where it is, and more depending on the permissions that you give to the services.”
Although certain activities may not be deemed safe for vehicles, updating them to correct safety issues shows the benefits of having a modifiable, software-based screen and system. OTA updates can change things as needed, as they were with Tesla’s passenger gaming feature.
<img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-251245" data-attachment-id="251245" data-permalink="https://cleantechnica.com/2021/10/20/first-drive-the-fully-electric-volvo-c40-recharge-twin/2021-10-europe-belgium-brussels-volvo-c40-recharge-twin-kyle-16/" data-orig-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/10/2021.10-europe-belgium-brussels-volvo-c40-recharge-twin-KYLE-16-e1647609359724.jpg" data-orig-size="1300,985" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.73","credit":"","camera":"Pixel 4","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1634285116","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.38","iso":"171","shutter_speed":"0.042992","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="2021.10 europe belgium brussels volvo c40 recharge twin KYLE 16" data-image-description data-image-caption="
Volvo C40 Recharge Image courtesy of Kyel Field, CleanTechnica
” data-medium-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/10/2021.10-europe-belgium-brussels-volvo-c40-recharge-twin-KYLE-16-400×303.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/10/2021.10-europe-belgium-brussels-volvo-c40-recharge-twin-KYLE-16-800×606.jpg” loading=”lazy” class=”wp-image-251245 size-full” src=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/10/2021.10-europe-belgium-brussels-volvo-c40-recharge-twin-KYLE-16-e1647609359724.jpg” alt width=”1300″ height=”985″>
Volvo C40 Recharge. Image courtesy of Kyle Field, CleanTechnica.
<img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-260913" data-attachment-id="260913" data-permalink="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/02/27/mercedes-eqs-the-new-bag-quick-review-of-the-mercedes-eqs/mercedes-eqs-interior-cleantechnica/" data-orig-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica.jpeg" data-orig-size="1300,975" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.6","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 13","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1645281820","copyright":"","focal_length":"5.1","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00847457627119","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Mercedes EQS interior CleanTechnica" data-image-description data-image-caption="
Mercedes EQS interior Image Mercedes
” data-medium-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica-400×300.jpeg” data-large-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica-800×600.jpeg” loading=”lazy” class=”wp-image-260913 size-full” src=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica.jpeg” alt width=”1300″ height=”975″ srcset=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica.jpeg 1300w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica-400×300.jpeg 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica-800×600.jpeg 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/02/Mercedes-EQS-interior-CleanTechnica-768×576.jpeg 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px”>
Mercedes EQS interior. Image courtesy of Mercedes.
<img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-256929" data-attachment-id="256929" data-permalink="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/05/airflow-concept-offers-a-glimpse-of-chryslers-electric-future/airflow-concept-interior/" data-orig-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior.jpg" data-orig-size="3000,1981" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Airflow Concept interior" data-image-description data-image-caption="
Credit: Chrysler
” data-medium-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-400×264.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-800×528.jpg” loading=”lazy” class=”wp-image-256929 size-full” src=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior.jpg” alt width=”3000″ height=”1981″ srcset=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior.jpg 3000w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-400×264.jpg 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-800×528.jpg 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-768×507.jpg 768w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-1536×1014.jpg 1536w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/01/Airflow-Concept-interior-2048×1352.jpg 2048w” sizes=”(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px”>
Image courtesy of Chrysler.
<img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-239095" data-attachment-id="239095" data-permalink="https://cleantechnica.com/2021/05/20/from-ford-f-150-lightning-to-lion-electric-school-bus-the-ev-revolution-is-accelerating/ford-ligthning-interior/" data-orig-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior.jpeg" data-orig-size="881,494" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Ford Ligthning interior" data-image-description="
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en.relatedmedia.viewmore.image.html/
” data-image-caption=”
Courtesy of Ford
” data-medium-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-400×224.jpeg” data-large-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-800×449.jpeg” loading=”lazy” class=”wp-image-239095 size-full” src=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior.jpeg” alt width=”881″ height=”494″ srcset=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior.jpeg 881w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-400×224.jpeg 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-800×449.jpeg 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-768×431.jpeg 768w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/05/Ford-Ligthning-interior-600×337.jpeg 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 881px) 100vw, 881px”>
Image courtesy of Ford
<img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-262216" data-attachment-id="262216" data-permalink="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/18/car-interiors-being-influenced-by-tesla/chevy-silverado-ev-76-2/" data-orig-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76.png" data-orig-size="1300,697" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Chevy-Silverado-EV-76" data-image-description data-image-caption="
100+ Pics Of New Chevy Silverado EV Image courtesy of Chevy
” data-medium-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76-400×214.png” data-large-file=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76-800×429.png” loading=”lazy” class=”wp-image-262216 size-full” src=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76.png” alt width=”1300″ height=”697″ srcset=”https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76.png 1300w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76-400×214.png 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76-800×429.png 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2022/03/Chevy-Silverado-EV-76-768×412.png 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px”>
Image courtesy of Chevy. Also see: 100+ Pics Of New Chevy Silverado EV.
Originally posted on EVANNEX. By Zachary Visconti
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