Volvo Brags About New In-Car Experience Using a Large Touchscreen in the Dash

Volvo is a car company that has built its reputation around on safety for the most part. The company is talking a bit about its new in-car experience and that experience revolves around a big touchscreen. I happen to think this is a bad idea for safety.

While touchscreens look cool and modern, anyone who has driven in a vehicle where the physical buttons have been replaced with touch will tell you that touch is not as easy to use while driving as old-fashioned buttons and knobs. With a touch system, you have to take your eyes off the road and look at what you are pressing.

Stealing a page from Tesla, Volvo is using a big tablet-like touchscreen in the center console to replace the buttons and switches we are used to.  The screen is in portrait mode and each section has its own theme with navigation at the top. While the new UI certainly makes for a clean look, usability might suffer.


Perhaps Volvo has figured out how to make its system easy to use without constantly looking at it, we will have to wait and see.

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