{"id":12946,"date":"2025-09-16T11:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=12946"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:17:06","slug":"buttons-give-way-to-smart-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/buttons-give-way-to-smart-glass\/12946\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualcomm and Google are building AI cockpits that could make car buttons obsolete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cars are adapting to the<\/a> future, and it appears that buttons will no longer be present on the panel<\/strong> beyond the steering wheel. Electric car manufacturers are adopting a more minimalist aesthetic, with only the necessary features included, while the rest are being integrated into the screen that is gradually becoming a standard in every car. However, this does not please drivers, as many of them see buttons as essential to the car’s functionality, but tech companies are starting to get into the automotive industry.<\/p>\n

Buttons are still a feature: Some drivers prefer not to use them<\/h2>\n

S<\/span>ome manufacturers, such as VW and luxury, super sporty brands, do not want this trend to become a demand for them. The design chief of the German automaker revealed that Volkswagen will reintroduce buttons in some of its cars in the next generation, as a way to simplify the driving experience for drivers and cater to public demand.<\/p>\n

Lamborghini, Pagani, and Ferrari are examples of automakers that are not adopting a full-screen display for safety reasons: if the driver becomes distracted from the driving experience, it could cause serious damage to themselves and others. Ultimately, every type of model will have a market, and some are betting heavily on screens to power multiple functions simultaneously<\/strong> within a vehicle.<\/p>\n

Technology companies are stepping into<\/span> the automotive industry with AI<\/h2>\n

Two tech giants are working together to change how cars think. Qualcomm and Google are collaborating on a new platform that combines Snapdragon chips, Android Automotive OS, and Google Cloud. The idea is to provide carmakers with an easy-to-use setup that makes it easier to build smarter digital cockpits with generative AI and without buttons (like this car from XPeng)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The car will respond to natural voice commands<\/strong>, with maps that feel more interactive, and systems that update in real-time to help drivers before they even ask. Qualcomm\u2019s Nakul Duggal stated that the goal is to push innovation forward while ensuring that automakers and suppliers can use these tools without having to start from scratch.<\/p>\n

Google wants the car to be updated from the inside: Lower costs<\/h2>\n

Google\u2019s Patrick Brady added that cars are becoming “software-defined vehicles,” and this project is about making updates and new features faster to roll out. The backbone of the project is Snapdragon hardware paired with Qualcomm\u2019s AI Hub, which runs models for things like vision and speech<\/strong>. On top of that, Google is bringing its Android Automotive software, so automakers can customize voice assistants and other AI features directly inside the car, which means buttons will become obsolete in this project.<\/p>\n

Both companies see this as a way to shorten development time, reduce costs, and keep vehicles up to date throughout their lifespan. In other words, cars get smarter the longer you drive them. Mixing the processor of a computer or cellphone with the media kit inside the vehicle is a trend that has been gaining traction recently, but more traditional drivers will likely miss the buttons.<\/p>\n

Nvidia is joining the race: Snapdragon will have niche competitors moving forward<\/h3>\n

On the first day of the IAA 2025, Nvidia was one of the highlights of the event<\/strong>, with the software company making its way into the automotive industry by combining artificial intelligence with the car structure. The VP of Automotive of the company stated before the event that the cars are becoming \u201cas much built in the data center as in the factory\u201d. In this case, what Nvidia is trying to do is combine AI with the car system to create a safer environment and bring more autonomy when it comes to the software system (and Elon Musk might need this tech for the future of Tesla)<\/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":"

Cars are adapting to the future, and it appears that buttons will no longer be present on the panel beyond the steering wheel. Electric car manufacturers are adopting a more minimalist aesthetic, with only the necessary features included, while the rest are being integrated into the screen that is gradually becoming a standard in every … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":12947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"Buttons","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Cars with buttons seem they are in the past, but in reality a major automaker is bringing it back. Meanwhile, others want to get away from these features.","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12946","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\/12946","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=12946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}