If you’ve been following the current car interior trends these days, some manufacturers are already making vehicles less reliant on infotainment displays and are bringing physical controls back.

In fact, even the Chinese government has already stepped in, requiring automakers to install physical controls or buttons to configure certain vehicle functions.

While large touchscreens meant manufacturers could add more cabin features, while at the same time cut costs on vehicle production, the end user tends to spend more time taking their eyes off the road just to scan through submenus, leading to distracted driving.

For Mercedes-Benz, though, they’re trying to have a good compromise. If you’ve seen their latest cabin designs, most of their upcoming models feature the MBUX Hyperscreen – a jumbo-sized, landscape-oriented screen display that extends almost the entire width of the dashboard.

Like it or not, this feature will stay. But Mercedes-Benz says buttons will soon return to their interior design, as they’ve (finally) listened to customer feedback regarding these. Mercedes-Benz executive Mathias Geisen said in an interview that while customers love big screens, they still want physical controls for specific key functionalities.

The upcoming GLC and C-Class are examples of that. While it has the 39.1-inch MBUX Hyperscreen, Mercedes-Benz put physical buttons at the bottom of the dual wireless chargers on the center console, such as the hazard button, the volume scroll, drive mode functions, and the around-view cameras.

Moreover, Mercedes-Benz is getting rid of touch panels on their steering wheel controls, and will replace them with the good ‘ol hard keys and scrolls.

While touchscreens scream high-tech, tactile buttons, switches, and soft touch leather surfaces scream more luxury. Hopefully, Mercedes-Benz gets a better balance of both in the foreseeable future.