When technology works against the driver. The auto industry seems to be advancing at a rapid pace with electric motors, self-driving systems, and head-up displays.
The auto industry seems to be advancing at a rapid pace with electric motors, self-driving systems, and head-up displays. Yet one of the most "obvious" signs of progress—the touchscreen on the center console—has turned out to be a real Trojan horse. Sleek, bright, multifunctional... and dangerous. And that danger is not hypothetical—it is backed by fresh findings from experienced researchers.
Swedish automotive magazine Vi Bilägare conducted a large-scale test of 11 vehicles to determine how much touchscreens distract drivers. The results were, to put it mildly, disappointing. And if anyone thought things had improved over the four years since the previous test, the opposite turned out to be true.
Testing took place at Lund Airport near Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Professional journalists from the publication drove in a straight line at 68 mph, a typical speed on European highways, while completing a series of simple tasks:
Nothing unusual—just the kinds of tasks every driver performs every day without much thought.
Researchers measured how long each task took and, more importantly, how far the vehicle traveled while the driver interacted with the screen. At 68 mph, every second of distraction means traveling about 100 feet without paying attention to the road. One and a half seconds, and you've already passed a crosswalk without even noticing it.
On average, the vehicles traveled 0.51 miles while drivers completed all of the test tasks—more than half a mile. In the comparable 2022 test, the average was 0.47 miles. The difference of about 187 feet may not seem dramatic, but that's roughly half the length of a football field. In that distance, a driver could fail to notice a stopped truck ahead, a child running into the road, or suddenly changed lane markings.
The paradox is obvious: over the past four years, screens have become larger, brighter, sharper, and better positioned. Yet drivers now spend even more time interacting with them. The reason is simple: automakers have buried even more functions behind the glass panel, creating multilayer menus where the needed button seems almost hidden.
The ranking of the most distracting vehicles was topped by an unexpected trio: Mazda CX-60, Mercedes-Benz CLA, and Toyota Corolla Cross. Drivers in these models needed the greatest distance to complete the standard tasks.
One interesting detail: the list also included the 2016 Volvo V60, a vehicle with plenty of physical buttons and a modest-sized screen that would seem likely to perform better. Instead, its bulky and not always intuitive control layout worked against it.
Among newer models, the best results came from the Volvo XC60, Škoda Kodiaq, and Tesla Model Y. Even so, "best" is a relative term here—none of today's vehicles came close to the benchmark.
That benchmark was the 2005 Volvo V70, a vehicle with no touchscreen at all. In the comparable 2022 test, the driver completed every task after traveling just 328 feet. Three hundred twenty-eight feet versus more than half a mile. The difference was eightfold. A 20-year-old vehicle with old-school knobs and buttons proved safer than any high-tech flagship. The irony hardly needs any comment.
One trend deserves particular attention: the vertical tablet-style displays heavily promoted by Mercedes-Benz, Ram, and even safety pioneer Volvo. In these systems, many controls are located near the bottom of the display. To turn on the windshield defroster, for example, the driver has to look almost all the way down to the center console—taking their eyes as far from the road as possible.
The industry has started recognizing the mistake. Many automakers are moving back to horizontally oriented displays mounted higher and closer to the driver's natural line of sight. It's a step in the right direction, even if it comes late.
It's interesting to watch how automakers are responding to the growing wave of criticism. Volkswagen, for example, has publicly acknowledged that it went too far with touchscreens and has begun bringing back physical controls for basic functions such as audio volume and climate settings.
The consumer backlash became so strong that several brands rushed to restore at least a physical volume knob. That can probably be considered a small but meaningful victory for common sense.
Not everyone is willing to change course. Telemetry Vice President Sam Abuelsamid told CarBuzz that Rivian is moving "in exactly the wrong direction," believing customers prefer controlling everything through the screen. It has reached the point where airflow direction from the HVAC vents is adjusted through on-screen menus. The same approach is used in the new Volvo EX60 and BMW Neue Klasse models.
"I personally refuse to recommend any vehicles with software-controlled air vents. It's simply a foolish way to make the system more complicated," the Swedish expert said.
It's hard to disagree. On a hot day, directing airflow toward your face now requires digging through submenus, whereas it once took nothing more than moving a vent with your finger. Progress, you say?
Even so, experts are not entirely pessimistic. One expert believes the situation "will gradually improve" and points to two encouraging trends.
The first is the development of voice controls. Modern language models and voice assistants are becoming faster and more accurate. In an ideal future, the driver will simply say, "Increase the temperature by 4°F and switch to jazz," and the system will respond instantly without requiring a single glance at the screen.
It sounds like a scene from Star Trek, where Captain Picard gives the computer an order and adds, "Make it so." But that future is still some distance away. Today's voice systems are far from perfect and often confuse one command with another.
The second trend is regulatory pressure. Beginning in 2026, China will require physical controls for key vehicle functions, including:
Given the size of the Chinese market, the rule will inevitably affect the global auto industry. No major automaker is going to walk away from China just for the questionable benefit of hiding the hazard light button three menu levels deep.
It is also notable that Euro NCAP plans to reduce safety ratings beginning in 2026 for vehicles whose basic functions are accessible only through a touchscreen. Regulators on both sides of the world appear to have reached the same conclusion: a beautiful display is not worth human lives.