Hyundai Isn’t Sold on Touchscreens, Vows to Keep Physical Controls

Touchscreens may be all the rage in new vehicles, but Hyundai isn’t sold on the idea and has vowed to keep using physical controls.

According to Carsguide, Sang Yup Lee, Head of Hyundai Design, made clear the company has no intention of abandoning physical controls anytime soon. The company doesn’t believe touchscreens provide the safety and familiarity of physical controls.

“We have used the physical buttons quite significantly the last few years,” Lee said. “For me, the safety-related buttons have to be a hard key.”

“When you’re driving it’s hard to control it, this is why when it’s a hard key it’s easy to sense and feel it,” he added

“We will continue to have [physical dials],” he continued. “When it comes to Level 4 autonomous driving, then we’ll have everything soft key, but until then, as I said, when it comes to driving it’s safest to have your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.”

The exec’s proclamation is good news for drivers who prefer things a little more old-school.