Hyundai Kicks Out Touchscreens and Brings Back Buttons

It seems Hyundai has finally grasped something that the rest of the automotive industry continues to ignore—like that ever-blinking check engine light we all pretend not to see: nobody loves touchscreens in cars. Seriously. They’re slow, fiddly, impossible to use with gloves on, and will have you opening the tailgate at 120 km/h when you were just trying to turn on the heated seats.

But now—finally—Hyundai claims that from 2026 onwards, their cars will once again come equipped with real, physical buttons. Those glorious mechanical marvels you can press without staring at a screen for ten seconds while forgetting which direction you were supposed to be driving in the first place.

Hyundai promises these new buttons won’t just be practical. No, they’ll be intuitive, ergonomic, and visually pleasing. A button that looks good, feels just right under your fingertip, and—imagine this—actually does what you expect it to.

But wait, there’s more. Hyundai is reportedly working on something called “smart buttons.” What are they? No one knows. Possibly something that learns your habits, reads your mind, and orders you a coffee before you even realize you need one.

And perhaps most remarkably, Hyundai says they’ll listen to users. That’s right—this may be the first time in modern automotive history that a carmaker has decided, “Hey, maybe we should build cars people actually enjoy using.”
A radical concept, isn’t it?