Advanced technology has been bringing us many new things, and it is also changing the automobile industry. Before, the button is indispensable inside a car cockpit, but now when we climb into any concept car of recent vintage (BMW i Vision Future Interaction, Acura Precision or VW T-Cross Breeze), we will see that the dashboard has no traditional buttons or knobs. “Is it time to proclaim the Death of the Button?”

Now, engineers are starting to adopt that look for production models, which means new products for suppliers of those controls. According to a study by IHS Automotive, global sales of steering-wheel control, speech recognition, touch screens and gesture control will jump sharply over the next five years. The following is the IHS forecast of annual sales increases in that time (by category): 

- Steering-wheel switches, up nearly 11 percent.

- Speech recognition, up 12 percent.

- Touch screens, up 13 percent. 

- Gesture controls, up 35 percent.

- Traditional control buttons, up 2 percent.

(Dashboards in the Acura Precision Concept, BMW i Vision Future Interaction and VW T-Cross Breeze suggest a minimalist future.)

Mar Boyadjis, an IHS analyst, said that motorists prefer cockpits sported the same user control as their smartphones, game consoles and tablets. He also added: "Consumer electronics are a leading indicator for [cockpit controls] in the car… Touch screens, for example, are well-established in cars today. We've had them in consumer electronics for a long time."

That’s easier said than done. Last month, J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study revealed that infotainment, navigation and audio systems generate 20 percent of the problems reported in 3-year-old vehicles. Meanwhile, Balky Bluetooth pairing of smartphones, unreliable voice recognition and hard-to-use navigation systems were among the 10 most frequently reported problems.

Automakers have taken these complaints to heart. After Ford Motor Co. received numerous complaints about the usability of its MyFord Touch user interface, it introduced a redesigned version with eight control buttons under the console screen. But Boyadjis argues that these are temporary setbacks. He points to the results of an IHS survey that asked 4,000 car shoppers how they would prefer to use their smartphones while driving.

Seventy-five percent favored the vehicle's speech recognition, 70 percent wanted to use the center console's touch screen, and 69 percent preferred steering-wheel controls. Respondents were allowed to choose more than one option. And that's why automakers continue to shift from conventional buttons to touch screens, steering-wheel controls, voice recognition and gesture controls. 

Which companies will profit from this trend? While more than a dozen suppliers are battling for a niche in the market for cockpit controls, IHS estimates that six -- Valeo, Kostal, Tokai Rika, Preh, Delphi and TRW -- control over half the market.

(According to Auto News)