AATISH MISHRA

If journalism doesn’t work out, Aatish may have a future in speculative design!

We may not need driving schools. Cars can have ‘Learn Modes’ where they guide novice drivers

THE MBUX HYPERSCREEN. MBUX IS SHORT for Mercedes-Benz User Experience — essentially an in-car infotainment system. The first-generation MBUX is already on many Mercedes-Benz cars sold in India — I even reviewed the interface on the GLC Coupe for the evo India YouTube channel — and it’s a rather intuitive system to use. The Hyperscreen takes things to the next level though — a single glass surface stretching from door to door, with air-con vents as the only physical controls on there. Now, this is the point that I normally pause to moan about the lack of buttons for air-con controls. But today I’ll hold back. Because the Hyperscreen is so much more than just a replacement to physical buttons.

I’m not going to delve into the details of it, because we’ve already got a full story on it elsewhere in the magazine (page 14). What I want to focus on is how this screen works and what it means for the in-car experience in the future. Mercedes-Benz says that the car will use AI to ‘learn’ your habits and usage patterns, and make suggestions to you accordingly. The press release uses words like ‘context sensitive awareness’, which means the suggestions are based on a number of parameters that the car is constantly keeping a tab on. If you always call your partner on your way home from work, the system will learn this and make a suggestion when you get into the car at that time of the day. But it is also aware if someone else is driving and won’t make that suggestion if that is the case. If you regularly use the hot stone massage when it is cold outside, the car will throw up a suggestion on evenings when it senses the mercury falling. It even keeps track of where you use the suspension lift function using GPS, and will ask you if you want it lifted up the next time you approach that place.

Artificial intelligence is not new to cars. Most driver-assistance functions — adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, active safety features — use them already. But now, AI is creeping into the incar experience and will be an integral part of that space in the future. And it is probably for the better. Think about all the other spaces that AI defines experiences — Netflix suggestions, Amazon suggestions, Spotify recommendations, Instagram discovery page — all of them have a computer deciding what will be served to you next. And over time, these spaces become familiar. Try picking up someone else’s phone, opening Instagram and going to the discover page. You will barely recognise the app — it would feel alien and unfamiliar. Contrast that to the app on your phone, where AI already knows what you like and throws up images that it knows you will interact with. Now imagine that degree of personalisation in your car — unrestricted by an architecture of physical buttons, that can fine-tune itself to your needs.

The MBUX Hyperscreen is just the first step. The automotive industry is slowly moving towards electrification and autonomy, and as it does so, the in-car experience will drastically shift. Level 4 autonomy is just a few years away and Level 5 cars, which will do away with steering wheels and pedals, may become a reality after that. Air-con controls should be the least of our concerns.

A few years ago, Volkswagen debuted Sedric, a concept vehicle which was essentially a rolling cuboid with four seats inside it. How does a user transition from the cars we know today, to something like that? With elements like the Hyperscreen bridging that gap. Imagine a ladder that leads further into the future the higher up you climb. Designers are tasked with deciding how far each rung on the ladder is placed, so that no step is too large and too difficult to make.

The first car that the Hyperscreen will debut on is the EQS. That was intentional. The EQS will hit markets less than a year from when the all-new S-Class debuted. Mercedes could have easily built this architecture onto the S-Class, but instead they chose the EQS. And that is because the S-Class buyer is on a much lower rung of that ladder compared to an EQS buyer. A step from the previous-generation MBUX to this one is too big a jump for them.

The possibilities are endless! If an all-digital, AI-powered layout makes its way to the mass market, a car could serve a variety of functions that it can’t today. One day, Uber drivers may not need a phone to find rides. The car can do it for them, and even change its in-car experience from when it was searching for a passenger to when a passenger is in the car. Once autonomous driving takes over, these cars could become conference rooms — the speedo and infotainment systems melting away, and the screen instead showing faces from a group Zoom call. Heck, we may not even need driving schools — cars can have ‘Learn Modes’ where they guide and correct novice drivers on the road. And I have just thought these up in one afternoon. Imagine what the people getting paid the big bucks to think of all this can dream up! ⌧