Today’s cars come loaded down with more gimmicks than a circus. Some of them, like ambient lighting and headrest speakers, range from harmless fun to pretty awesome. Others, like having an entire giant screen just for the passenger, seem to be added technology for no apparent reason. A new study from JD Power seems to suggest what you’ve already known all along. Seemingly few drivers care about having a screen for a front passenger, and even if your car has a passenger screen, your passenger probably isn’t using it.
There was once a time when having any screen at all in your car was weird and novel. The Buick Reatta and its phosphor monochrome cathode-ray tube seemed ripped from the pages of science fiction. Then there was a whole rash of cars in the 1980s and 1990s that had futuristic digital instrument clusters or proto-infotainment systems. Even everyday Chrysler products like its minivans had the option for a radical green instrument cluster that continues to capture the awe of drivers today.
Screens aren’t new anymore. Since at least 2018, when the federal government’s mandate on backup cameras went live, even the cheapest, most base model cars have at least one screen. Nowadays, it’s common to see regular cars with a screen for both infotainment and instruments, even if the instrument cluster screen doesn’t actually add much to the experience.
Automakers have become rather obsessed with screens. On one end, you have the likes of Tesla, which chooses to route most of its cars’ functions through a single, monolithic touchscreen. On the other end, you have legacy luxury marques whose visions of opulence mean screens that take up nearly 100 percent of dashboard real estate. An increasing number of automakers even give screens to front-seat passengers, which seems rather redundant as it’s almost certain that the person sitting in that seat is going to have a personal computer in their pocket or purse already.
The screens are just one techy feature that’s out there today. You can buy cars filled to the brim with tech like SAE Level 2 driver assistance, cars with biometrics, cars with electric door handles, cars with a million automated safety features, cars that claim to be able to drive themselves, and even cars with AI-driven climate control. Of course, the big question is whether people actually use this stuff.
According to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study, which was recently released, there’s one standout piece of tech that car buyers and their passengers don’t actually care about, and it’s one that isn’t surprising at all.
Car Owners Like When Tech Works In The Background
According to JD Power, it surveyed the owners of 2026 model-year vehicles about their experience after 90 days of ownership. This survey period ran from June 2025 through May 2026, based on vehicles registered from March 2025 through February 2026, capturing responses from 68,084 vehicle owners. JD Power says this about the study:
The U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) complements the annual JD Power U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS) and the JD Power U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study by measuring how effectively each automotive brand brings new technologies to market. TXI combines the level of adoption of new technologies in each brand with excellence in execution. The execution measurement examines how much owners like the new technologies and how many problems they experience while using them. The TXI dataset allows automakers to immediately identify the specific technologies their customers consider to be must-have, nice to have or not necessary at all.
While this methodology potentially has some imperfections, it is a window into how people feel about their vehicle purchases. Three months is long enough for many people to figure out what features they like and what features they don’t care about.
One of the study’s key points was pretty obvious in that car buyers like when their car’s tech works in the background rather than being in their face. An example of this, per JD Power, is a smart ignition system. Buyers generally enjoy how frictionless today’s car ignition technology is – just don’t leave the fob on your hood – and also like cars that allow them to use their phone as a key. Buyers further like automatic climate control systems and cars that can easily remember and recall driver personalization settings like seat position, mirror position, and infotainment settings.
Cars receiving high marks in the study include the Cadillac Escalade and Toyota Tundra for their camera rearview mirrors, the BMW X6 and Hyundai Palisade for smartphone-based keys, the BMW iX for one-pedal driving, and the Hyundai Ioniq 9 for its EV charging scheduler. Cadillac and Genesis earned top marks in tech innovation with 641 points and 559 points, respectively, based on a 1,000-point scale. Hyundai led the pack of mass-market brands with 524 points.
Technically, responses would have ranked Tesla with 924 points and Rivian with 781 points, but JD Power says that those two brands, along with a few others, did not meet study criteria.
Drivers Aren’t Yet Fully Into Hands-Free Driving
One surprise came from how drivers are currently accepting SAE Level 2 driver assistance systems. According to JD Power, more driving automation doesn’t automatically translate to a more pleasurable experience. From JD Power, which quotes Doron Hikry, director of customer success at JD Power:
In the United States, SAE Level 2 (L2) driver assistance systems, which require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, outperform more technologically advanced SAE Level 2+ (L2+) hands-free systems on execution and overall experience scores, despite L2+ systems offering more functionality. While L2+ systems have a slightly lower problem count than L2 systems (13.8 vs. 14.3 PP100, respectively), they do not deliver a better overall experience, suggesting that simply adding hands-free capability does not necessarily translate into greater customer satisfaction. “The results indicate that owners may currently be more comfortable with systems that clearly assist the driver rather than those that introduce a greater degree of automation,” said Hikry.
I get this one to a degree. To date, GM’s Super Cruise is my favorite driver assist system. I’m still wowed by how a truck with Super Cruise can effectively and safely tow a huge travel trailer. However, it still requires a pretty decent degree of babysitting, and it’s frustrating when it does make errors. It seems that, at least for the drivers that JD Power surveyed, they’d rather have a system that helps them drive than a system that drives for them, but still needs as much supervision as a car that’s under full manual control.
Passenger Screens Are Being Ignored
Now, we get to the meat and potatoes, and it’s that, like you, other car owners don’t really care about passenger screens:
Passenger screens offer little appeal to owners: Passenger screens are more common and actively used in premium vehicles, yet they rank among the most problematic technologies in the index (21.3 PP100). More than one-third (35%) of owners industrywide who have a passenger screen say they have never tried to use it, while just 6% say they use it every time they drive. Some vehicles equipped with passenger screens also had higher rates of infotainment system problems in the JD Power 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS).
This isn’t surprising at all to me. Back in early 2025, I tested Ram’s updated heavy-duty pickup truck line. At a casual dinner during that press trip, Doug Killian, Chief Vehicle Synthesis Engineer, admitted that Ram found out that its customers don’t actually use the front passenger screen that comes in higher trim models. Ram thought that, like rear seat passengers, the front seat passenger would appreciate having a screen with all sorts of media on it. In reality, most of the front passengers just use the phone they already have and would rather have more dashboard storage than yet another screen. The difference? Rear seat passengers are often children who don’t walk around with a smartphone. As Killian put it, Ram might have accidentally done “technology for the sake of technology.”
As a few other journalists at that event further noted, there are a lot of people who get carsick when trying to focus on a screen while they’re a passenger in a moving car. I’m one of those people. I have to be very careful looking at any screen while I’m a passenger in a car because there’s a good risk I’ll get violently ill.
Then there’s the fact that, as I have personally witnessed when testing new cars, these screens don’t do anything that your phone doesn’t. Sure, the dash screen might be larger, doesn’t need to be hooked up to a charger, and doesn’t need to be held, but your phone already has all of your favorite apps, movies, and music right there. Chances are, like me, you’ll be holding your phone in your hand as you use the dashboard screen.
So, between the people who get sick and the people who will just whip out the smartphone that’s already on them, there might not be a large population of people who actually care about having extra screens.
It doesn’t help that, as JD Power points out, passenger screens have given their owners problems. The screens apparently proved problematic in JD Power’s 2026 Initial Quality Study, which tracks owner-reported problems in the first 90 days. In that study, passenger screens were responsible for 21.3 problems per 100 vehicles. That doesn’t give a whole lot of confidence in how well these screens are going to work after warranties have expired.
JD Power’s study isn’t exactly a huge revelation, either. The reliance on screens has been controversial in the automotive world. Last year, researchers at the University of Washington and Toyota Research Institute put 16 people into a driving simulator, making them use a built-in touchscreen while on the move. Unsurprisingly, the results showed that, when forced to use a screen and drive at the same time, drivers became sloppier at the wheel while also being worse at hitting the screen. Earlier this year, Forbes reported on how even designers think that automakers went too far with screens. Of course, there’s far less at stake with a passenger using a screen than a driver, but it’s still a part of this trend of slathering dashboards in screens.
Hikry says that, given the JD Power study, automakers have an opportunity “to prioritize technology that makes driving simpler, not more complicated. The features that solve real problems without adding effort or stress for the driver are the ones resonating most with customers.” Does this mean that this is the end of the road for the passenger screen? Who knows. But if you’re the person who has been yelling at clouds about how many screens that new cars have, it seems you aren’t alone.
But maybe this is the beginning of something different. We’ve already seen some automakers commit to bringing buttons back. If automakers know that buyers aren’t interested in passenger screens and other gimmicks, maybe we’re headed to a future with fewer screens and perhaps fewer distractions. I can get behind that.
Top graphic image: Porsche
That RAM Longhorn interior is something out of a satire. I’m all about wearing a cowboy hat to deconstruct American mythology and undermine masculinity tropes, but I’m not sure you can irony your way out of that truck.
I’ve been saying for over a decade now that RAM’s Laramie Longhorns are the closest we have now to the Brougham packages of the ’70s and ’80s
A couple weeks ago I got a Ram Longhorn as a rental car. The interior was awfully silly with all the cowboy boot motifs and fake buckles and other “western” designs embossed everywhere. It was like the interior was covered in tribal tattoos. At least it was comfortable.
Our new car is packed with features with varying levels of gimmickry. One that I thought would be annoying and would end up disabling based on other users’ feedback is the fully keyless entry system, which automatically unlocks the door as you approach and locks it again when you walk away. This is a “step up” from the keyless system in our Crown that requires you to touch the door handle to lock it on departure.
I expected the system to be a buggy irritating mess and it kind of is, constantly locking and unlocking the car as you move towards and away from it (which we do a lot given we have a toddler who constantly remembers he needs something as we’re about to depart). But it’s just so bloody convenient when you’re walking away from the car with your hands full (a common occurrence for us due to aforementioned kids) that it’ll (usually) lock itself. So for now it’s staying on.
On the gimmick end of the scale is the car’s built-in karaoke feature, which requires you purchase some wireless microphones. I know it’s ridiculous but I still kind of want to try it – I’ve proposed the toddler gets the microphone for his birthday. That could be a huge mistake.
Perhaps expecting your toddler to plan and pack for a trip is a bit overly ambitious. My experience Mom grabbed what we needed and if we 5 kids didn’t grab what we wanted we were shit out of luck. Probably too soon for a lesson for a toddler but 4 years and up a great life lesson
To be honest I’m blaming the toddler for our own forgetfulness. “Where’s my wader boddle?” – Ah yeah he probably needs that.
If it were me, I’d do everything to hide the karaoke feature from any kid. Lie that the car didn’t come with it if you have to.
I’ve joked with my friends who have BYDs that I’ll buy their kids the microphones available for those cars for their birthdays. They don’t find the joke particularly funny.
I don’t mind it, I love hearing the little one sing and enjoy himself. And when I stop loving it the microphone will suddenly “need new batteries” all the time.
My best friend’s kid is getting bagpipes for his birthday.
If we give the screens more AI people will love them.
The best L2 system in my opinion is openpilot (or an official fork) running on a Comma or other dedicated hardware. It keeps lanes in the middle or slightly right, changes lanes when told to and does adaptive cruise. That’s what it says it does, nothing more or less. It does allow hands-off-wheel driving in some scenarios. It aggressively beeps and eventually cuts off if it detects a phone in hand.
Overall I’ve been impressed with the Comma 4 and Sunnypilot fork. It keeps lanes well and lets me drive hands off on highways or long streets. The factory system would nag incessantly on straight roads. The Comma doesn’t.
90 days doesn’t sound like that long of a time. I’ve owned my current car for over 2 years and I still find quirks and features I didn’t know about.
Hell, there’s a lot of stuff in my house that I’ve never seen
Agreed I keep meaning to try out cruise control in my 2001 VX I bought 25 years ago.
The tech dorks are wrong again? Sure happens a lot.
Speaking of screens, why are the embedded videos autoplaying again?
Are the “problems” with the passenger screen actual problems? Or are they JD Power problems where actual malfunctions get lumped together with Grandad could not understand how it functions and complained about it not working correctly? Unless JD Power ever fixes the way they categorize the different issues people have, I just can’t take their surveys seriously.
On the general use of passenger screens: This is (partly) the same issue of touchscreen computer monitors or laptops. Laptops work ok if they are in your lap and not being used at a desk, but when you’re sitting normally for work at a desk it just isn’t good ergonomics to use a touchscreen like that. Your arm gets fatigued holding it up for even short time frames.
I can’t imagine using these for any length of time. Of course it also all comes down to, people already know their phone. They’re comfortable with it. Their entire life is already on it. Just let people connect the phone like they want and stop trying to reinvent things that are not broken with inferior design with no thought to UX.
Not to mention an iPad is a hell of a lot cheaper, better quality, and useful than a $5000 “tech” package with an embedded 10″ screen linked to an infotainment system.
I don’t like my screen in my RAV much. I’d be happier if I just had knobs to twiddle for the sound system. It’s silly. The systems it displaces would take up as much space on the dash. Its only unique function, then, is to be the screen for the backup camera.
The lanekeeping system makes me very unhappy. It hugs the left side of the lane, so I automatically crowd every car that passes me. And they all pass me; I don’t drive fast. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to adjust the lanekeeping centering, or I assure you I would have fixed this a long time ago. Fortunately, this feature can be turned off without affecting the rest of the adaptive cruise control.
The adaptive cruise control is fabulous. I love it. It’s the second-best feature of the car. I will never get another car that doesn’t have adaptive cruise control.
Comma AI and openpilot to the rescue if lane keeping is a thing you like. I have one and it’s worth it for my commute. Between the adaptive cruise in the car and lane keeping that the Comma does, it’s nice.
I am still hoping for an aftermarket screen I can mount in my window tracks to keep bugs out.
Mostly for camping but on the drive as well.
JC Whitney had your number in the 1970s. Not so much anymore.
You have lived too long.
Part of my challenge in using the L2 systems that I have come across is that it is just a bad driver.
Jerky corners, constantly correcting, bouncing from line to line within the lane. We won’t even get started about the braking/accellerating.
I use mine when it’s time to cut a cigar while on a road trip, and I need both hands. Other than that, stay in the box.
I approve that use of L2 systems.
I got pulled over for weaving within my lane in Eureka Ca. Sure the DUI for being .08001 sucked but the cop who pulled me over and the ones at the jail were super cool. Got to spend the night watching Barney Miller reruns instead of being stuck in the tank.
Audi went so hard into the passenger screen idea that their cars have very little design for the passenger side of the dashboard – in fact, it’s a blank slab of piano black plastic if you don’t opt for the useless screen. It’s was an obviously stupid idea at the time and now they are paying dearly for it – look at audi’s sales for their (previously) most popular models and you can see how badly people hate these designs. I owned the last “good” B-platform Audi (a B9 allroad) and boy howdy did the mighty fall. Audi used to be the gold standard for interior design and quality. Today, I’d rather have a Kia.
The only implementations of a passenger screen that I’ve ever liked are either in supercars or the latest Nios. I think a small display that shows stuff like speed, RPM, G-forces, boost, etc would heighten the passenger experience in something novel like a supercar, which aren’t often driven boringly. You might be able to look over the gauge cluster but then you’re not looking straight ahead and experiencing the visual sensation of speed as much.
The second implementation is in Nio’s latest generation of cars (ET9, ES8, ES9), which have a dashboard spanning display that’s only 1-2 inches tall and isn’t remote like an iX3, Xiaomi YU7, Lincoln Nautilus, etc. It’s short enough to be fully integrated into the dashboard, so the dashboard’s styling isn’t just S C R E E N like a Mercedes. I’m not sure how useful the information on it is (weather, media, speed, compass, sunset time) or what can be controlled on there, but it can passively serve as an advanced form of ambient lighting, which is appropriate at the price point IMO. The driver’s side of the same display is used as the instrument panel (which isn’t oversized and has cowling to reduce glare!)
The level 2 driving makes absolutely no sense to me. What’s the point of letting the car steer if my hands have to be on the wheel? My ID4 won’t even go five seconds without screaming at me to put my hands on the wheel when it’s on its auto drive mode so I stopped using it. My old KIA K5 seemed to have some kind of sliding scale based on how straight the road was and how much traffic was on it. On long drives down the 5 to LA it would sometimes go up to five minutes without telling me to take the wheel. I could actually relax a bit.
Kia’s Level 2 system is pretty chill compared to most. My Integra gets mad if I have my hands on the wheel on an arrow-straight road and I’m not “steering”.
Cars that use steering wheel torque to sense your hands on the wheel are absolutely 1000% infuriating. I am very much a “10 and 2” driver, and thus I there is no torque on the wheel while driving in a straight line.
Until legitimate “take a nap” self-driving, I have no use for any of this nonsense. I don’t need any more tech than my iDrive-less BMWs have, other than I wouldn’t mind a rearview camera in my convertible. Which can just display in the rearview mirror where it belongs. I really do need to look into that.
Exactly! But, I am pretty happy with version 1.4 of Ford Bluecruise (L2+). It does a better job staying in the center of the lane and much much better at making lane changes than the previous version(s). I do wish it would work while towing, even if I had to give up the lane change feature while towing.
The hands-on non-Bluecruise L2 is very frustrating because I have to tug the wheel every so often even when going in a straight line with my hands on the wheel. If it’s doing its job, I shouldn’t have to apply torque to the wheel! But if I don’t apply torque to the wheel, it won’t do its job.
I look forward to having an opinion on this in about 15-20 years, when presumably I will be purchasing cars from this era.
Xzibit is so proud of the 2026 car market. One pioneers’ vision, made manifest for all.
“I heard you like screens, so I put a screen in your screen.”
I’m guessing that passenger screens would be put in just so that the manufacturer can sell ads and media subscriptions. So let’s all hope they give up on them well before that happens.
I admit that I haven’t tried those camera based rear view mirrors,but I fail to see the point of them still. What is the benefit of those compared to a regular mirror?
I don’t use ours much on our most recent trip to Disney with 4 adults and luggage plus stuff, we filled the back of the RAV enough to block the rest view mirror. Push of a button and my view, if slightly skewed, was back.
Many new cars have gun turret slots for windows.
not the ones i buy
The view is much clearer, shows a wider angle, and is obviously directly behind the vehicle rather than through the backseat, back window, etc.
I don’t drive around with mine turned on, but I do find it useful at times to get a better look behind the car, even though rear visibility is decent.
IMHO – the rearview mirror is where the backup camera display belongs. But it’s no substitute for having decent rearward visibility in the first place.
I’m about to have one installed in my wife’s car in 2 days. As others have said, it’s because so many modern cars have shite rear visibility. The dealer offered a super deal ($500 installed, rather than the original $1300) so we’ll see how it goes.
They also work when the dog’s in back.
Better visibility especially with rear passengers or tall cargo and one less source of glare from headlights behind you during nighttime (side mirrors are still an issue). An indirect benefit is that it allows the rear pillars/window sighlines to be worse which could potentially benefit aero. I really like the ones that can switch between being a real mirror or a digital mirror.
My last Jeep Grand Cherokee had one and I hated it. You have no depth perception so it’s hard to tell how close something is behind you. Also it would make me low key nauseous when it was on.
Fortunately, if you turned it off the screen turned into a regular mirror. That’s how I used it 99.9% of the time.
Edit to add that it was helpful if you filled up the back for a trip or something and completely blocked the rear window.
I have the same issue with them, which is why I don’t want a display as the ONLY mirror. As an occasionally useful adjunct to the regular mirror, fine.
I worked for an OEM when they were evaluating early systems like this. Advantages have been stated, unobstructed field of view, etc. Disadvantages were screen responsiveness, resolution, sun glare at certain angles. My OEM opted to pass on the tech, so GM beat us to the punch.
I personally hate them. I have good vision, and the requirement to refocus on a screen 2 feet from my face vs just glancing at the mirror is incredibly annoying. Not to mention that’ll be a thousand dollar plus repair when it dies in 8-10 years. Fix the focal difference to match a regular mirror, and most of my anger goes away.
All this to legally have no or almost no usable back window.
I was starting to get skeptical that automakers would figure this out before taking things a step further and replacing the front passenger with a screen.
We know drivers don’t want front passengers… they want a touch screen that allows them to open and close a virtual glove box.
as i recall, “cupholders? that’s what the passenger is for” as an ad for the old (rebuilt) datsun Z cars when they were doing the rebuilding thing.
I’ll be the guy in the 6% I guess. The passenger screen is useful (although in limited circumstances, I’ll admit). For example, when using the nav screen, I don’t want the passenger fiddling with it. But with the passenger screen they can adjust the radio without messing with it. Or sometimes the nav is messed up and needs to be cancelled/re-entered – it can be easier with the screen in from rather than of to the side.I don’t think anybody is spending time staring at them during a trip, though.
I freely admit that these are first-world problems. But since in most vehicles the screens are an option, if you don’t want it, don’t order it. Problem solved. If they come standard then I think most people are getting ripped off because they don’t want them.
I’ll also be in the minority over rear-view mirror cameras. I get ill looking through those and just can’t use them, even for a short backup maneuver. I would never get a vehicle that basically requires them (like Cybertrucks or C8 Corvettes) with little to no rear visibility otherwise.
You’re point isn’t wrong, but you didn’t mention that you’d probably have to explain to the passenger (unless it’s the same one) how to use it. Stick any of my parents in the passenger seat, about half of my friends, and most definitely my in-laws, and none of them would know what it even does.
I know the difficulty of telling my in-laws how to turn on the TV (just a TV, no cable box, no audio receiver, no soundbar). I can only imagine my blood pressure trying to tell them they can use the touch screen in front of them to redirect air vents.
My passenger 99% of the time is my wife who already knows.
The passenger can also do this from whichever phone is actively being mirrored- Choosing music or a podcast directly while the navigation remains on the main display. My wife and I do this for each other all the time.
The intuitiveness of using the device users are already familiar with is simply incomparable, and will ensure phone mirroring remains popular for the foreseeable future.
Not in any of my cars they can’t. The music is coming from satellite radio, not the phone. And the nav is also often from the car, not any phone.
I’m looking forward to getting a Slate with basically zero screens other than the speedo/odometer.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/cm-slate-2-6812464154de9.png?crop=0.862xw:1.00xh;0.0833xw,0&resize=980:*
I’m second in line.
Slate gang
There are literally a dozen of us! Was just playing around with the configurator last week.
I’m offended that it doesn’t have analog instruments.
It’s electric. I guess it could have an analog volt gauge.
But nowadays it’s just easier to give it a single display and have it switch from the speedometer to (hopefully) a range display with the simple push of a button. And have the mandated back-up camera display show up while reversing. If you want more screen activity, you can always option up to a tablet screen, but for me, that kind of defeats the purpose of getting a simple Slate in the first place.
I want a good old fashioned analog speedometer that I don’t have to READ to understand. A small display for the rest of the nonsense is fine, but I want that analog clock in front of me, or I am not interested.
The wife’s 2015 Cruze has an analog speedometer, but also a configurable digital DIC which can show the speed in MPH along with the Distance To Empty and the current MPG on three separate lines.
Image
I find myself using her digital speed readout more than the actual analog speedometer when I drive her car. My truck only has the analog speedo, and I have no problem with that, but I think I could get used to only having a digital speedometer in the Slate.
You can ‘get used’ to anything. I don’t want to. I have hated every car with a digi-dash I have ever driven. Which is lots of them.
I get wanting them from a visual standpoint, but surely reading a number is way faster/clearer than interpreting where a speedometer needle is hitting between two values.
My early 997 has both, and as pretty as the analog dial is, it’s far worse at conveying speed information than just a number on a screen.
Lots of studies say it’s not. I don’t have to read an analog speedometer, the needle position is enough. No need to focus on it at all – much like reading an analog clock.
Why not just convert home theaters into personal transportation? Makes about as much sense as what’s happening now. At the end of the day, just dock it into your home and go on watching the world on screens until you fall asleep in your massage chairs. What this world needs is more tox screens to keep impaired drivers and engineers from screwing everything up.
We saw the eventual outcome for this in Wall-E.
This is kinda what’s happening in China, where seemingly every larger car comes with a laptop size or bigger screen to watch movies on with infotainment systems that have good video app integrations, ‘zero-gravity’ reclining seats, 15+ speaker 7.1.4 surround sound, and center console refrigerators that can also keep food warm. It makes more sense for people there because people tend to live in multigenerational homes, so a car is nice place to watch things privately away from your parents/nosy in-laws.
This is all back to the idea that tech is luxury. Luxury now is the lack of constant prompting with information you don’t need. Businesses of all kinds have spent the last 20 years equating attention to value and I don’t think that math is working like it once did. I worry that passenger screens were always about advertising to the people in the car anyway. Why not sell you the adds for the next off ramp fast food when the car knows you are low on fuel…..
I am finding my non-iDrive BMWs to be EXTREMELY luxurious at this point. Minimal distractions, just enjoy the driving experience.
Meanwhile, Mercedes executives probably are asking engineers if they can turn the passenger side of the windshield into a screen.
My 1978 M-B 300SD would have cost $85k in today’s money. Didn’t have a single screen. I wish they would invest money into quality and not gimmickry.
Passenger screens are dumb.
Hands-free driving is clutch for long trips. I think more people need to try it. I just did a 2600 mile trip in 2 weeks pulling our camper. I was so glad to have my Comma 4 and it performed so well (I’m running Sunny Pilot on it for a RAM 1500). I’ve driven Blue Cruise and Supercruise and I’d take my Comma 4 over any of them. I arrived so much less fatigued than if I was in control, but the system never fights me if I want to override it. I had several stretches where I didn’t touch the wheel for hours, other than to nudge it to change lanes. It’s also nice to pay one fee for the device and then no monthly costs after. The self driving systems from the manufacturers are too expensive (both first cost and as a subscription).
Never understood the point of a passenger screen. If your passenger is going to stare at a screen they are going to stare at their phone with all their own personal stuff already on there.
Agree. I figure it’s purely tech for tech’s sake, doing it just to show they can.
At the end of the day, it’s about wowing customers at the dealership. Lump all this stuff together in the Technology Package and a lot of ppl will be amazed. See: self parking feature.
If it’s like my typical passengers, it’s another device that’ll increase their chances of motion sickness.