Hyundai Design Boss Asks: 'Why Do We Need a Screen?'

I have an old work truck for moving things around the property - a 1999 Ranger.

It is rough, doesn't handle bumps or stopping nearly as well as anything modern, and has almost no features beyond a radio.

Driving a screenless vehicle is a more strikingly different experience than I would have imagined. Have you gone a day without your cell phone recently? It's a very similar "unconnected from one thing but much more connected to another" feeling.

I hope there are modern vehicles without tablets on the center console soon. Convenience isn't always the whole story.

We need to strike a balance here. A car without any screens would be a regression - big screen for navi is a nice thing to have. However, I like to have physical controls for things that muscle memory can kick in. A/C, gear selector and so on.

There are gray areas in between, for example gauge cluster could be a screen but I vastly prefer physical gauges.