Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a key interior component of its upcoming electric luxury sedan: a large, curved screen that sweeps across almost the entire width of the car instead of a conventional dashboard.
The MBUX Hyperscreen option available on the EQS sedan uses artificial intelligence to learn what functions the driver uses most, such as navigation and hands-free phone calls. Ola Kallenius, CEO of parent company Daimler AG, said Thursday in a recorded video presented online that the screen “only shows what is needed: no scrolling, no browsing.”
For instance, if the driver often uses the hot-stone massage function during the winter, the user experience system will suggest the comfort function during cold weather. Or, if the driver calls someone regularly on the way home, the system will suggest a call at the usual time.
“With the 3D driver display with real depth effect, the large head-up display with augmented reality content such as animated turn arrows and biometric authentication, MBUX has now taken another big step towards digitization and artificial intelligence. And, if you will, you could say that with the MBUX hyperscreen even the giant TV has now found its way into the car.,” mercedes said in a blog post.
Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer Daimler Group, and Sajjad Khan, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG and CTO, on the new MBUX generation, were asked what they saw as the highlights.
Khan: Of course, I have personal favorites, and this necessarily includes the huge MBUX hyperscreen in the EQS. With its unique electro-aesthetics and high user-friendliness, it represents the entire character of the EQS – avant-garde, cool, personal and useful – the German word “practical” simply does not match it as perfectly as the English term. But it is very important to me not only to talk about individual hardware components of MBUX. The clever networking of all systems and the intelligent software that can be learned are also crucial. Our MBUX philosophy is to offer our customers maximum comfort, personalization and amenities. A system that goes into even more detail, is more thoughtful and individual than ever before. The advantage for our customers: Thanks to the optimized user-friendliness, they save time and get a high added value. MBUX becomes the backbone or even the central brain of the vehicle.
Wagener: With MBUX, our goal was to create the most desirable automotive infotainment system. We have transferred the bipolarity of our design philosophy Sensual Purity to MBUX – that is, on the one hand the sensual beauty and on the other the ‘wow effect’ of the uniquely intuitive operation. And at the EQS as a representative of Progressive Luxury, we were able to be a little more modern, bolder and more polarizing. By the way also in the exterior, but only by the way. I see it like Sajjad, also my absolute favorite in the interior is the MBUX Hyperscreen. We have thus invented a new interface that brings design and technology together. The MBUX Hyperscreen was born: a digital piece of art, a futuristic, luxurious sculpture and also a huge technological challenge.
The screen also lets the front-seat passenger watch television in some markets, while preventing the driver from seeing that part of the screen to avoid distraction.
Kallenius said the EQS would showcase the company’s efforts in digitalisation and electrification, two trends that are shaking up the industry. The EQS, the electric counterpart to the Mercedes conventionally powered S-Class, is one of four battery-powered models coming this year as German carmakers seek to challenge Tesla.
