{"id":12544,"date":"2025-09-05T11:50:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T15:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=12544"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:59:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:59:01","slug":"car-buttons-extinct-new-dashboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/car-buttons-extinct-new-dashboard\/12544\/","title":{"rendered":"VW is bringing physical buttons back after admitting its touchscreen experiment was a flop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most cars are coming out of the factory with little to no buttons on the panel. Everything is either adjustable on the media kit, with big screens, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the traditional car buttons are getting left behind<\/strong>, but this doesn’t please every driver. Some find it difficult to deal with the touch screens on a daily basis, and some models face lags in the system that ultimately could slow them down, eventually, and cause car accidents. With that in mind, some manufacturers are starting to adjust their cars to have the traditional method again.<\/p>\n

Everything is controlled with screens: It’s time to change that.<\/h2>\n

The air conditioner, sport mode, windshield adjustments, and rear mirror – everything is adjusted remotely nowadays. Car buttons used to handle all these issues, but now with a couple of touches on the screens, everything can change. While this is a sign that technology is evolving and manufacturers are interested in the tiniest details and space optimization, some drivers just prefer the old-school car buttons – and some of them don’t even like media kits.<\/p>\n

The examples of cars having no buttons and dealing with everything on the screens are electric vehicle companies like Tesla or BYD. The interior design is minimalist to go with the idea that something as simple as electricity can move a car. The exterior is no different: subtle lines, not many details. The basic is done in the right way. But this is about to change with car buttons coming back<\/strong> in one famous automaker.<\/p>\n

New models with old-school looks: Car buttons are back<\/h2>\n

VW’s design chief, Andreas Mindt, told Autocar<\/em> that the brand is bringing back physical buttons, starting with the ID.2. It sounds obvious, but at least they’re fixing it now. Back in 2022, VW ditched normal buttons for touch-sensitive steering wheel controls. The idea didn’t land well, and by the time the ID.2all concept showed up in 2023, the company admitted the experiment was a flop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mindt said the new setup will bring back real controls for the basics \u2014 things like volume, seat heating, fan speed, and hazard lights: car buttons under the screens. No more digging through menus just to turn on the heat. Speaking with Autocar, Mindt said the goal is to avoid repeating past mistakes. He stressed that future VW steering wheels will stick with real buttons because they provide feedback drivers can feel, unlike touch panels. In his words, cars should be designed like cars, not like smartphones.<\/p>\n

Others are not going in the same direction: It wants to revolutionize<\/span><\/h2>\n

Qualcomm and Google are teaming up on car tech, working on new digital cockpit systems<\/strong>. The idea is to bring together Snapdragon chips, Android Automotive, and Google Cloud to make things like voice assistants, maps, and real-time updates faster and more useful. They’re also building a system that lets carmakers roll out improvements as they go, so drivers can get upgrades without having to wait for the next car release, including additional screens for each of the passengers in the backseats.<\/p>\n

Buyers will be able to choose between buttons or screens in the future<\/span><\/h3>\n

While these companies are heading in a different, yet similar direction in a<\/span> near future, buyers will have multiple models to choose from: car buttons, or almost no buttons besides some in the steering wheel. Some cars don’t even need to switch a key or press a button anymore, just scroll a little key in the panel. When it comes to EVs, the idea will always have a modern look, but just like VW is doing, the future might not be very different from the past.<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclaimer: Our coverage of events affecting companies is purely informative and descriptive. Under no circumstances does it seek to promote an opinion or create a trend, nor can it be taken as investment advice or a recommendation of any kind. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most cars are coming out of the factory with little to no buttons on the panel. Everything is either adjustable on the media kit, with big screens, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the traditional car buttons are getting left behind, but this doesn’t please every driver. Some find it difficult to deal with the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":12545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"car buttons","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Car buttons supposed to be in the past, but while some tech companies and automakers are trying to move on to screen, one mythical company refuses to follow.","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}