In-vehicle displays getting bigger and fancier. The challenge is making them better

If you compare the quality of the picture on the screen of the 2021 Cadillac Escalade with that of a high-end, big-screen TV, you won't see much difference. Both use the same organic light-emitting diode technology. And the Escalade's curved screen is a harmonious design element that is an integral part of the dash.

In the redesigned Hyundai Elantra, the radio station graphics — old-fashioned tubes with numbers inside — are another illustration of how much importance is being placed on wowing consumers with whiz-bang screens.

The screen, and its great potential to enhance the driving experience, is fast becoming part of the modern vehicle's DNA. To further drive home how important the technology has become, Mercedes-Benz on Thursday, Jan. 7, will host a global event to unveil the MBUX Hyperscreen — a curved display that spans the width of the cabin — for the upcoming 2022 EQS electric sedan.

But as screens continue gobbling up real estate on the dash, a familiar challenge for engineers and designers remains: ending consumers' frustration with crowded, cluttered displays jammed with icons and folders and submenus.

"Bigger icons is directionally helpful," Jake Fisher, senior director for auto testing at Consumer Reports, told Automotive News. "But what we've found is that often when screens get bigger, [automakers] just try to shove more stuff onto that screen. That doesn't necessarily help.

"A lot of uplevel vehicles have larger screens, but they take away the [radio]-tuning knob, they take away [the] volume knob and bake that into the screen. That makes it worse, not better," said Fisher.

Some automakers are starting to listen to their customers and address the problem with a mix of screen-operated controls and good, old-fashioned buttons, switches and knobs the driver can operate intuitively.

Honda angered many of its customers in 2016 when it removed the simple, intuitive volume knob for the radio on several of its vehicles and replaced it with a clunky electronic slider that some felt required the extra dexterity to get it to work properly. A year later, manual controls were back.

In the latest generation of the European version of the Honda Jazz, controls for the air conditioner reverted from the touch screen back to manual dials in the center of the dash.

"The reason is quite simple," Jazz project leader Takeki Tanaka, told Britain's Autocar magazine. "We wanted to minimize driver disruption for operation, in particular, for the heater and air conditioning.

"We changed it from touch screen to dial operation, as we received customer feedback that it was difficult to operate intuitively. You had to look at the screen to change the heater setting, therefore, we changed it so one can operate it without looking, giving more confidence while driving."

The redesigned 2021 Escalade has one of the biggest screens on the road — 38 inches. But General Motors designers and engineers didn't try to cram all of the vehicle's controls onto it. There's a small screen to the left of the steering wheel that allows the driver to set up and customize the gauges, camera, navigation and head-up display. Below that is a series of manual buttons that control the driving modes.

There also are manual controls in the center of the dash for the HVAC system. The main attraction, from the right of the steering wheel across the center of the dash, is a high-resolution OLED screen with plenty of space between the icons.

The larger display "gives everything room to breathe, and it makes things easily accessible," says Bill Thompson, who heads up interface design for the Escalade and the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover coming in 2022. "We are able to make the iconography and labeling system larger and more orderly. We've given plenty of thought into how the whole user interface system gets architected to address some of those complaints we've heard in the past," he said.

Massive screens with large, easy-to-read icons and airy fonts likely won't be enough to end consumer dissatisfaction with the human-machine interface in their vehicles if automakers keep replacing mechanical switches and knobs with electronic ones. And with the introduction of automated driving capabilities, even more information may need to be displayed on even more screens.

In everything from entry-level economy cars to full-blown, six-figure luxury SUVs and rugged off-road, high-performance trucks, the screen has been swallowing the dash. Even the screen in the humble Kia Soul compact wagon measures more than 10 inches.

According to IHS Markit, since 2015, the average size of infotainment screens has grown from 6.4 inches to 7.3 inches. Part of that growth comes from the screen absorbing a growing number of functions that have been switched from mechanical to electrical operation.

IHS says in 2020, 7- to 8-inch center-stack displays made up 61 percent of the automotive display market. Nine-inch and larger displays accounted for 27 percent of the market. By 2026, 9-inch and larger displays are expected to make up 41 percent of the center-stack display market. Also, within six years, the number of vehicles available with 15-inch displays is likely to triple, according to IHS.

Vehicles have had screens for decades. In 1986, for example, the Buick Riviera had a touch screen that controlled the radio. Navigation systems brought more screens into cars over the years. But almost a decade ago, Tesla's influential Model S kicked off the large-screen era with its 17-inch touch screen display planted in the center of the dash. Since then, other automakers have been rolling out larger screens in their vehicles.

The current king of the road in screen size is the Porsche Taycan electric sport sedan, whose four screens offer a total of 47 inches of display area. One curved screen houses the instrument panel behind the steering wheel. Two more — one for the driver, the other for the passenger — are in the center of the dash. The fourth screen, positioned just ahead of where the shifter would be in a regular vehicle, is used to operate the heating and cooling.

The Taycan's time at the top may be in jeopardy. A new generation of electric vehicles from startup automakers have embraced big screens. If the Byton M-Byte makes production, it would be difficult for another automaker to out-inch the 48-inch screen that runs from pillar to pillar in the four-door crossover. The screen is the entire top of the dash, and there's a second screen in the front of the steering wheel. Also, Sony showed a concept car, the Vision S, at last year's CES technology expo in Las Vegas with a segmented screen that runs from pillar to pillar.

While pillar-to-pillar screens might look cool, that doesn't necessarily make them practical.

Cadillac, Lincoln and Land Rover have worked with Territory Studio of San Francisco to help define the look and functionality of their screens. Territory is best known for its work in helping develop graphics for movies and video games. Marti Romances, the company's co-founder and creative director, says no matter how big the screen gets, the content still must be within the driver's peripheral vision.

Fisher, of Consumer Reports, says Tesla hasn't always done a great job of making its screens easy to use. "The Tesla Model 3 absorbs almost the whole car into the screen," he said. "But on the Model X and S, there were hard controls for adjusting the mirrors and the air conditioning vents and seat controls. Tesla has actually gotten worse because they have baked so much into the screen."

To open the glove box or change the direction of the airflow in a Tesla Model 3 or Model X, the driver has to do it from the screen. Tesla did not respond to an email from Automotive News for comment.

Automakers are banking on increased computer power in vehicles, over-the-air update capability and the screen's flexibility to be reconfigured to help keep vehicles fresh for consumers. BMW, for example, has packages that offer various services such as real-time traffic information and BMW Concierge. Tesla has a Premium Connectivity suite that includes video streaming and an Internet browser.

It won't just be infotainment content competing for space on screens.

"We see higher demand for technology such as automated driver-assist programs, big data and safety. These are coming fast, and we need more information to be displayed," said Qais Sharif, Visteon's global vice president of display product lines. He says the market for screens will grow from $5 billion today to $10 billion to $15 billion by 2025 as automakers integrate sensors, cameras and haptics into more vehicles.

A great number of vehicles are offering voice-recognition systems that control functions, such as the defroster, wipers and seat heaters, items usually activated by screen icons. But voice recognition is not a game-changer that takes the pressure off designers as they decide what goes on the screen and what stays mechanically operated.

"When we survey consumers, very, very few people actually utilize those systems," says Fisher. "In a way it's more distracting than actually just controlling it yourself.

"Think about changing the temperature from 70 to 72," he said. "Generally, you reach for the knob and change the temperature. Now, it's, 'Alexa, change temperature to 72.' Now you are looking and waiting and making sure it acknowledges. Voice controls are great for complex things, like calling a contact and setting the navigation system. If you have the alternative of quickly changing the radio station or temperature yourself in a split second, going to a voice control as a Band-Aid for bad hard controls is a step back."