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Look into just about any new car and you'll either find a touchscreen or "virtual buttons" that seek to approximate the function of a mechanical button. The appeal of touchscreens and virtual buttons on new cars is to make the vehicle appear sleeker and pack more features into limited dashboard real estate, but numerous studies have shown that these interfaces prove to be more of a hindrance than a help, as it makes ordinary tasks harder to accomplish.
There's no denying the impact that smartphones and tablets have had on modern vehicles. Look into just about any new car and you'll find a touchscreen and maybe even a bank of capacitive touch buttons that seek to approximate the function of mechanical buttons. The appeal is obvious: A cabin with these design elements can look sleek and modern. But there are drawbacks that aren't always considered.
Those who haven't been in a new car as of late may not know what to look for when evaluating the technology. With this in mind, Edmunds experts have listed a few pros and cons to touchscreen car interfaces to help you determine if this technology is something of interest or a deal-breaker.
Pro: fewer buttons equal larger screens
Most people prefer a large screen to a smaller one, so when automakers remove buttons from the car, it gives them more room to expand the screen. And much like our TVs and smartphones have ballooned in size over the years, so too have vehicle screens. For example, Lexus introduced its small SUV, the NX, in 2015. That model had a 7-inch center screen. Less than a decade later, the 2022 Lexus NX can be had with an optional 14-inch touchscreen. Some models' screens are even bigger. The Ford Mustang Mach-E has a 15.5-inch center touchscreen, and the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQS offers an entire dashboard that is one big Hyperscreen. Bigger screens are more legible, provide larger touch targets to interact with, and make it easier to glance at a map.
Con: higher likelihood of distraction
With touchscreens, drivers must take their eyes off the road to perform most tasks. A simple task such as pulling up a song on Spotify caused drivers to take their eyes off the road for up to an average of 20 seconds, according to a 2020 study by IAM RoadSmart, an independent UK road safety nonprofit. For perspective, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines recommend that "devices be designed so that tasks can be completed by the driver while driving with glances away from the roadway of 2 seconds or less." The study also concluded that the impact on reaction time when using touch control, as opposed to voice control, was worse than texting while driving.