Hyundai Concept Three could kill the touchscreen once and for all

Hyundai could be one of the first manufacturers to wean itself off increasing touchscreen dependence, with its latest Concept Three show car signalling its future production car development and a move away from touch and voice-activated core controls.

The Concept Three features a number of individually customisable widgets and no central touchscreen, with additional important information positioned on a display at the base of the windscreen to keep as much information as possible in the driver’s eye-line. 

“A lot of customers are frustrated at having to look and go through layers, so how do we simplify?” head of Hyundai Design Centre Simon Loasby told Auto Express. “Even on my car you have to go through a couple of layers to get to something like seat heating, so did we get that right?”

Loasby pointed out that Hyundai hasn’t abandoned buttons completely in its cabins, unlike some brands that have moved to a combination of only touchscreen and voice activation.  But he said that the balance isn’t right at present. 

“People are prepared to sit and go through menus to play with the high tech stuff, but the instant interaction - temperature, air conditioning, volume, seat heating, skipping tracks - there's a set which are just so frequently used that actually, then you start questioning, well, why do we need a screen?” he continued. “Not the other way around, not why do we need buttons? Why do we have a screen, and can't we do that in another way?”

The Concept Three’s new direction is something the brand admits it’s working on, with production cars over the next 18 months likely to evolve in a less touchscreen-reliant way, although not completely wiping out the screen on production models. 

“We’re not there yet, designers always like to challenge and see where the journey could go, which is why we have done what we have with Concept Three,” said Loasby. “And our cars have some very good interactions and functions where screen interaction is required; that’s OK, but we complement that with the frequent-use physical interaction buttons.”

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