Screen-Only Gear Shifting Officially Banned, Signaling the End of the In-Car Screen Arms Race

On July 1, 2026, a mandatory national standard officially came into effect, bringing an end to the recent trend of eliminating physical buttons from vehicle interiors. The new regulation clearly requires that critical safety functions, including gear shifting, turn signals, and hazard warning lights, must be equipped with physical controls and cannot rely solely on touchscreen operation. This move echoes the new Euro NCAP requirements taking effect during the same period, marking a global shift in automotive interaction design—from pursuing visual minimalism to returning to the fundamental principle of putting safety first.

1. Safety First: Why Regulators Had to Intervene

The introduction of the new regulation is based on clear human factors engineering principles and safety data. Studies have shown that drivers spend significantly less time taking their eyes off the road when operating physical buttons than when navigating multiple layers of touchscreen menus. At highway speeds, the risks associated with searching through on-screen menus to turn off the defogger or adjust the windshield wipers have already been reflected in accident statistics.

The purpose of regulation is not to hinder innovation, but to establish a non-negotiable safety baseline: any operation affecting a vehicle’s basic controls and safety status must be physically accessible, fixed in location, and operable without requiring the driver to look away from the road. This necessitates a fundamental restructuring of design logic—assigning safety-critical functions to physical hardware with clear tactile feedback, while leaving infotainment-related operations to screens and voice controls.

A deeper driving force behind the regulation lies in the issue of liability. When all functions are integrated into a touchscreen, operational failures caused by software lag, system crashes, or touch response issues can blur the lines of responsibility between software, hardware, and design. Physical buttons, as independent and reliable control interfaces, provide clear safety redundancy and well-defined accountability boundaries. This becomes increasingly important as vehicle functions grow more sophisticated in the era of intelligent and connected automobiles.

2. A Shift in Design: From “Less Is More” to Refined Optimization

While the new regulations have brought an end to the race to eliminate physical buttons, they have also opened up a more sophisticated arena for competition.

2.1 The Return of High-Quality, Intelligent Physical Controls 

The comeback of physical controls does not represent a step backward. Instead, demand is surging for highly integrated components that blend seamlessly with interior aesthetics while delivering excellent tactile feedback. Smart knobs featuring miniature displays or dynamic backlighting are emerging as a new design trend. They retain the reliability of physical operation while offering richer information and context-specific functionality. For example, a multifunctional rotary knob may zoom the map during navigation and adjust volume during media playback, while a built-in micro OLED display dynamically shows the corresponding function icons. This fusion—combining physical hardware as the foundation with digital intelligence as the enhancement—has become the new frontier of automotive interior design.

2.2 Hybrid Interaction Becomes a Real Challenge

The new regulations allow a dual-control approach that combines physical controls with touchscreens, placing greater demands on system intelligence. Effective hybrid interaction is not simply about providing two parallel control methods, but about intelligently recommending the most appropriate one according to the driving scenario, such as driving versus parking. For instance, when advanced driver assistance functions are activated, physical buttons on the steering wheel can temporarily be repurposed to adjust following distance or lane-keeping sensitivity. When the vehicle is parked, the central touchscreen can provide a more intuitive interface for vehicle settings and customization. Achieving this level of seamless interaction requires cockpit domain controllers with stronger situational awareness and more sophisticated coordination capabilities. Behind this lies the integration of sensor data, user preferences, and cloud-based algorithms, enabling a smarter and more adaptive in-vehicle experience.

2.3 Driving Redundancy in Electrical/Electronic Architecture (EEA)

The new regulations also require that critical vehicle functions remain operational even in the event of infotainment system failures. This requirement is accelerating the evolution of electrical/electronic architectures (EEA) toward a “centralized computing + hardware backup” approach, often referred to as a safety island architecture. Specifically, safety-critical signal paths such as turn signals and gear control can no longer rely entirely on a central computing unit. Instead, they must be supported by dedicated microcontrollers (MCUs) or hardwired backup mechanisms implemented through zonal control units (ZCUs). This ensures that essential functions remain available even if the main cockpit system experiences delays, crashes, or other malfunctions. Such an architecture strikes a balance between the flexibility promised by software-defined vehicles and the need for uncompromising functional safety. At the same time, however, it introduces new challenges in terms of system complexity, development requirements, and overall cost.

3. Looking Ahead: Supply Chain Value and the Next Frontier of User Experience

The new regulations are reshaping the automotive supply chain. Traditional manufacturers of premium switches and actuators—once threatened by the trend toward full integration—are now seeing their value reassessed. Suppliers such as KOSTAL Group, HELLA, and Huguang Corporation are positioned to benefit from this shift. Companies capable of delivering components that meet ASIL-B functional safety requirements, offer service lives measured in tens of millions of operations, and support customized tactile characteristics are likely to secure longer-term strategic partnerships with automakers. At the same time, the regulations provide clear application scenarios for technologies such as Smart Surfaces, Force Touch sensing, and Haptic Feedback. Their purpose is no longer to eliminate physical controls altogether, but rather to make essential interactions smarter and more intuitive. For example, different levels of pressure applied to a smooth surface can trigger different functions, while precise vibration feedback helps drivers confirm their actions without taking their eyes off the road. In this way, mandatory physical interaction is evolving into a more intelligent and human-centered experience. Ultimately, competition within the industry is shifting away from the pursuit of ever-larger screens and increasingly minimalist interiors. Instead, the focus is moving toward delivering safer, more intuitive, and more refined user experiences—where technology serves drivers rather than distracting them.

From a global perspective, the convergence of China and Europe in automotive interaction safety regulations signals the formation of a more safety-oriented global standard. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also begun to pay attention to driver distraction caused by touchscreens, and similar guidelines may be introduced in the future. This means that designs compliant with both Chinese and European regulations are likely to become one of the “passports” for entering mainstream global markets. In the future, the sense of technological sophistication will be defined by the overall capability to deliver a seamless and efficient experience built on a foundation of safety. The focus of competition is shifting from “how large the screen is” to “how precise, fast, and safe the interaction is.” The perception of luxury in vehicle interiors will also increasingly be reflected in the material quality, craftsmanship, tactile feel of physical controls, and the overall maturity of human-machine ergonomics.