“We'll show you a different screen than anything you've seen before,” says the CEO casually dressed in a long-sleeved polo shirt: “we're so proud of it that our not-too-modest engineers called it MBUX. Hyperscreen “. The CEO, who speaks on video with a relaxing and anonymous landscape in the background, then says that MBUX Hyperscreen “is the center of attention, control and, of course, entertainment”.
The video is from a few months ago, speaking is Ola Källenius, CEO of the German automotive group Daimler and, he says, MBUX Hyperscreen is the largest screen ever put in a production Mercedes-Benz. In the comments to the video, a user wrote: «the presentation looks like an Apple Keynote». Another replied: «On closer inspection, it is. I wonder if Steve Jobs imagined it would change the auto industry as well. Cars are trying to become iPhones “.
In addition to the MBUX Hyperscreen (which has 56 inches and works thanks to a 24 gig RAM) and in addition to Mercedes, there are now many cars – not only high-end – that are equipped with at least one standard screen inside them. somewhere on the dashboard. What in the jargon are defined as “infotainment systems” from the fusion of the words “information” and “entertainment”, because they offer a little of both.
«Until a few years ago», wrote Automobile.it, «the most advanced infotainment systems were the exclusive prerogative of high-end premium models. Only large representative cars could count on the presence on board of devices such as satellite navigators or telephones. Today things are very different, the infotainment systems have undergone a profound process of democratization, which has seen them transform and evolve “.
And as Slate recently noted, “infotainment systems are becoming more and more flashy and full of distractions.” Moreover, given the development of the technology behind them and the diversification possibilities they offer to car manufacturers, it is to be expected that these systems will be increasingly present in more and more cars.
Although in the absence of precise data about it (because there are few of them and because very few drivers tend to admit that they have been distracted by the screen of their car), all this happens despite the fact that there are several reasons to consider these systems distracting and therefore very dangerous. Reasons that, however, clash with those according to which, despite being problematic, infotainment systems are in any case less worse than the use of smartphones while driving: which is prohibited, but rather common.
Screens inside cars began to be talked about with a certain concreteness around 2010, three years after the arrival on the market of the first iPhones and when satellite navigation systems were already spreading. At the beginning of that year the New York Times published an article that said: “amid the despair of those who are committed to road safety and already have to deal with so many possible distractions for those who drive, car manufacturers and technology companies have found a new place to put their sophisticated internet-connected computers. Big tech companies like Intel and Google are shifting their attention from desks to dashboards “.
For decades, the steering wheels, car radios and instrument panels of cars (first analog and then digital) represented a relative distraction from driving. The arrival of the screens on the dashboards, however, marked a clear difference: previously you could move rings or knobs while keeping your eyes on the road; in the case of screens – especially those to be touched – each action requires the driver to take his eyes off the road.
There are now, Slate wrote, “car screens that look like iPads (like Tesla's), screens that have a redundant physical knob to move between icons (it happens in some Genesis), and screens that claim to be able to read hand movements (this is the case with some BMWs). Above all, different cars have very different screens. To differentiate themselves and give the idea of always having something new to offer, the car manufacturers try to offer each one something different on their screens.
Furthermore, from a production point of view, car manufacturers should invest in the software and hardware development of a single screen rather than having to design, produce, insert and test a whole series of buttons and knobs, panels and dials in each model.
This also makes sense from a marketing point of view. Kelly Funkhouser, who took care of it for the Consumer Reports website, explained why: “whoever goes to a dealer now almost assumes that a car has a five-star safety system, and that it is fast when braking or in accelerated “. According to Funkhouser, even considering that now many cars are hybrid or electric, there are few things that can make the difference between two cars of this level, and “infotainment is one of them”.
It therefore happens that when you move from one car to another you find yourself having to deal with different systems, which work in different ways, which often have few things in common with Apple or Google systems (which in turn offer the CarPlay and Android Auto systems). Knowing how to use the screen of a car does not necessarily mean knowing how to use that of another model with ease. The consequence is that what makes sense for marketing runs the risk of becoming a security problem, since using an option-filled screen, based on a system you are not familiar with, you end up getting a lot more distracted. more time. Even if you practice a little while standing, you are likely to practice mostly while driving. And, as Slate wrote, “a slow and steep learning curve isn't ideal if the climber has a three-ton metal box on their hands.”
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However, it is not certain that the solution lies only in smaller and simpler screens. Because – in short – the larger and more effective a screen is in what it has to do, the less temptation the driver is to pick up the smartphone, which in addition to being relatively small introduces a whole series of further distractions. In the event that the driver has to react quickly to something happening in front of him, the reaction times are then even slower, because compared to infotainment systems it usually takes the driver's eyes even further from the road.
In all of this, there is a lack of clear and complete data on how and how much infotainment systems are used, and how dangerous they are, if any. Due to their novelty and peculiarity, today there are also no clear rules defining their use. They must comply with car interior regulations, without being too “hard” or “edgy” for reasons related to collisions in the event of an accident. But it is difficult to regulate what you can do with the screens, and when.
All this while in the future (even without going into the hypothetical and certainly not close to self-driving cars) more and more systems could arrive whose purpose will be to automate various elements of driving, effectively giving drivers less things to do and thus making them more sensitive and available to any distraction.
However, there are also those who, perhaps to differentiate themselves, say they do not want to focus on increasingly larger screens with more and more functions. Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO of Alfa Romeo, recently said: «the driver is and will always be at the center of everything. There will be as few screens in the car as possible. We don't sell an iPad with a car built around it. We sell an Alfa Romeo ». However, the fact that, a little more than ten years after that New York Times article, should speak of “as few screens as possible”, rather than “no screens”, says something.
– Read also: How our relationship with screens will be after the pandemic
