BMW has removed the physical buttons from its new i3 and iX3 models, arguing that younger drivers prefer touchscreens and voice commands because they are used to multitasking. The decision, defended by Vikram Pawah, CEO of BMW Group Australia, has reignited the debate over whether modern car interiors are prioritising convenience over safety.
Pawah told CarExpert that the shift reflects a generational change in how customers interact with technology. “It is undoubtedly a generational thing, but the younger generation, let’s say 45 or younger, picks up that technology much faster,” he said. “They want things to happen quickly and they are multitasking. And we have to keep that in mind. That is how our customers are evolving. They multitask.”
The new iX3 features a digital assistant capable of understanding natural speech, allowing drivers to say things like “take the airflow out of my face” or “I would like the coffee I had last week”. While the system is designed to be intuitive, critics point out that adjusting a vent manually takes a fraction of a second, whereas voice commands require saying “Hello BMW”, waiting for a response, and then issuing the instruction.
BMW has drawn parallels with the introduction of its iDrive system in 2001, which was initially criticised but eventually became an industry standard. “Do you remember how negative the reactions were? And now there is hardly a car without an iDrive-like system,” Pawah said. “The world is changing and we have to move with it. We have to make sure we deliver systems that are intuitive and that people can adapt to quickly. Change is never easy, so we have to make that process simple.”
However, the multitasking argument has been met with scepticism from road safety campaigners. While modern cars are equipped with semi-autonomous driving aids, these systems are far from perfect, and drivers are still expected to keep their full attention on the road. The concern is that removing physical controls for essential functions encourages behaviour that increases the risk of distraction-related accidents.
BMW’s approach also puts it at odds with several major manufacturers. Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Polestar and Volkswagen have all announced plans to bring back physical buttons for certain functions, acknowledging that touchscreen-heavy interfaces can be impractical and unsafe while driving. The shift in industry opinion follows growing evidence that haptic controls and voice commands are not always faster or safer than traditional switches and dials.
Safety regulators are also paying closer attention. Euro NCAP introduced a major change to its scoring system on 1 January, placing a new focus on driver distraction. The organisation now tests how easily drivers can operate key functions, effectively penalising vehicles that force users to navigate through menus or rely on voice commands for basic tasks.
The debate is not new. When BMW launched iDrive more than two decades ago, the rotary controller was widely criticised for being complicated and distracting. Over time, the system evolved into one of the most user-friendly interfaces on the market. The question now is whether the industry is repeating the same mistake by removing physical controls altogether, or whether voice assistants and touchscreens have finally matured enough to replace them safely.