For a few years now, automakers have been flooding the market with products containing more and more screens, usually advertised as an “upgrade”. Are they trick pieces of tech or actually just a cost-cutting item leading the way for a general conditioning of consumers to accept lower standards within the auto industry? Moving into an autonomous future and based on trends seen elsewhere, we may not have a need for oversized complicated screens. Gimmicky tech-encrusted interiors may be the distraction manufacturers are using to drop interior quality at a surprising rate.

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The Screens Get Bigger And Bigger

Mercedes-AMG EQE 53 SUV Interior
Mercedes 

With the seemingly endless possibilities when it comes to customization or displaying specific information, digital gauge clusters can easily be marketed as an “upgrade”. Just like the horsepower war, there is now a race to see who can shove the biggest, boldest, most interactive screen displays in front of the driver. As things move towards the electric era, manufacturers need more gadgets to keep drivers entertained. Everything from G-meters to interactive maps, to virtual assistants, are now being integrated into the vehicle’s infotainment systems which are slowly merging together with the vehicle's gauge cluster. Though some displays may look interesting and futuristic by design, we, as consumers, must not confuse quality design with quality materials.

Related: Jeep Grand Wagoneer Concept Features Not One Or Two, But Seven Big Screens Inside The Cabin

Screens Are Distracting. Period!

Mercedes EQS interior red glow
Mercedes-Benz

There is such a thing as information overload. Just because a digital cluster can display a ton of information at once may not necessarily mean it should. While driving an M440i at BMW’s “Ultimate Driving Experience” autocross event, I found that jumping into the car and trying to quickly familiarize myself with everything that was going on with the gauge cluster proved to be a little more difficult than expected. Traditionally, BMW has been spot on about simple yet elegant gauge clusters, giving you the necessary information to quickly understand what’s going on with the vehicle. Chances are if we’re customizing our instrument clusters to display things like real-time G-forces, perhaps we aren’t paying as much attention to the road ahead as we should be.

Related: A German Court Just Set Precedent For Touchscreen Infotainment Systems to Be Labeled As Driver Distractions

Do We Even Need So Many Screens Moving Forward?

2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer
Stellantis

While vehicles become more autonomous, we must ask if bigger, more interactive screens will be necessary for the future. Aside from providing critical information, ideally, autonomous cars will take care of everything else leaving the driver to do their own thing. Do we then identify as drivers, or riders, or travelers? Let’s look at the aviation industry as an example. If you’ve traveled on any newer airplane from the last decade, you’ll find that gone are the screens inserted into the back of every seat, replacing these are little hooks or stands that are supposed to support your personal devices. Travelers have become accustomed to bringing their own entertainment with them on personal devices. In automobiles, we could largely see similar trends thus eliminating the need for the chaotic multi-screen madness that has taken over the auto industry. Perhaps the elimination of unnecessary screens could make way for new types of luxurious items to be integrated into interiors, or provide a higher budget for better materials.

Related: The Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV Debuts With A 373-Mile Range, A 56-inch Hyperscreen, And 500+ Horsepower AWD Version!

Is This A Way Of Cutting Costs?

2023 BMW M2 with M Performance Parts
BMW 

It’s no secret that digital screens cost far less to integrate into vehicles than it does to design a new three-dimensional analog cluster of gauges. Automakers have been finding clever ways of cost-cutting projects for many years, but usually in ways that don’t directly affect the user experience. Cheap screens are becoming the industry standard, and it begs the question, “What’s next”? Are we to accept hard plastic cushionless seats? Should vehicles be delivered unpainted to keep costs down? Surely there will be a marketing scheme claiming unpainted is the logical eco-conscious way to move forward. It seems as though there is little effort being put into the parts of the vehicle that make the most sense to get right. There are vehicles with touch-capacitive controls that aren’t backlit. Key points in the user experience have been overlooked in the name of pinching pennies. While car prices continue to climb and rightfully so to keep up with demand and inflation etc., vehicle interiors don’t seem to be improving at a rate that reflects logical steps between generations of vehicles, regardless of external factors. In fact, as newer generations of vehicles are revealed, many are heading in a similar generic direction. Even automotive icons that are performance-oriented aren’t even safe, like the new Ford Mustang or BMW M2, both of which utilize rectangular infotainment/clusters that have seemingly been slapped onto the dashboard with little to no design/integration. Both vehicles have also incorporated crunchy haptic feedback multi-buttons that use the same surface but operate different functions. A strange experience to use in person and increasingly cheap feeling, the trend of interior cheapening continues.

Related: With An Optional Giant 31-inch Screen For The Rear Passengers, The New BMW 7 Series Is Your Own Personal Luxury Cinema On Wheels

What Does Luxury Mean To You?

Aston Martin Virage
Garret Donahue

Some may see boundless information as their ideal form of luxury, in which case today's offerings are sure to excite certain consumers. Others may appreciate the steps automakers have taken to design beautiful interiors, utilizing the best materials, and tying in well-executed designs. We spend most of our time behind the wheel so making that space aesthetically pleasing still matters. Ironically, it has never been easier to produce impressive three-dimensional parts/pieces using technology such as 3D printing. We have seen production vehicles that very closely resemble concept cars, proving that strong efforts gain the attention of enthusiasts and everyday consumers alike. Ideally, automakers will create innovative technology-filled vehicles that are clever and beautifully designed. Keeping quality materials in and gimmicks out is a foolproof way to build a timeless product. The problem may be that there may have been a shift from having a priority on making long-lasting impressions on consumers to a priority on making a strong initial impression. This may be because vehicles are increasingly looked at as replaceable items with a much shorter service life. Only time will tell if the interior spaces of the vehicles we use every day will continue to become more sparse and numb in the name of cost-cutting or if quality and user experiences will improve with quality materials and developing design practices.