Mercedes-Benz will offer customers as many as 5 touchscreens in its new flagship luxury sedan
- The second-generation of the Mercedes-Benz User Experience system will debut later this year on the 2021 S-Class.
- Customers will have the option of choosing up to five interior screens.
- Mercedes said it removed 27 mechanical switches on the new system versus the old one.
Those resisting the onslaught of screens in cars might as well give up because it's a battle that won't be won. Especially after seeing what Mercedes-Benz has planned for the second generation of the Mercedes-Benz User Experience system.
The new system, which will debut on the 2021 S-Class later this year, has displays on up to five giant screens — two in the front and three in the back, according to a press release. The driver's display will display information in a 3D spatial view without the need for 3D glasses.
As part of the new MBUX system, there will be a 12.8-inch OLED screen with haptic feedback as standard. Screen content will be sharable with other passengers, with the ability to change the navigation destination possible from the rear seats. There will also be the option of fitting up to three screens in the rear — a touchscreen in the rear center console and one for each passenger.
That big, main infotainment screen will also no longer look like it was tacked onto the dashboard as an afterthought. Instead, it looks more like it's floating in front of the dashboard and will largely be button-free. Mercedes says that it cut down on 27 "hardkeys" (mechanical switches) on the new system versus the outgoing system.
There will be more vehicle systems and sensor data than ever. A neat feature from that is the exit warning function. Mercedes explains a situation where if a passenger wants to exit the car, the car's cameras will check and see if there's something coming in the blind spot. The active ambient lighting will flash red as a warning if there is.
The voice assistant system, activated by the keyword, "Hey Mercedes" can be controlled from the rear seats, too. It will support 27 languages.
This isn't just a trend anymore. Screens are the future. The Tesla Model 3 already has a minimalist interior, dominated by a giant screen. As does the new Ford Explorer. Audi, at the end of last year, envisioned a future where there "will be no more buttons." And now Mercedes will offer not two but five screens.
The new MBUX system will run on a suite of hardware that includes a 320-gigabyte solid-state drive, 16-gigabytes of RAM, and 50% more processing power than the outgoing MBUX system, reports The Verge.