There are many, many reasons that modern cars seem to be driving away from physical buttons as fast as they can. Automakers are eager to cut costs, especially in the electric era, and they can’t cram every new advanced software feature into a button. But there’s a less-cited reason why buttons aren’t in vogue in some markets: buyers of China’s EVs consider them “old-fashioned.” 

That’s not true across the board, of course; every driver is different. But as a broad trend, Chinese buyers—who are used to some pretty cutting-edge tech—feel like buttons in cars are something from their parents’ era.

Xiaomi’s SU7

Apple famously spent a billion dollars a year for nearly 10 years developing its EV, wanting to disrupt the market, but ultimately failed. On the other side of the planet, consumer electronics goliaths Xiaomi and Huawei have won people’s hearts already by rolling out hyper-competitive EVs.

I think the sentiment is generally very different in America, where study after study says that for safety reasons alone, there’s no true replacement for a good set of physical controls. That’s why the folks at Xiaomi—still a smartphone giant, now in the electric car game too—gave the new SU7 sedan the option of a detachable row of center buttons for the touchscreen.

We’ve covered this innovative feature before, but now there’s a video from UX aficionado Panos K. on LinkedIn that I embedded above. 

It’s exactly what it sounds like. The little plastic button bar fits under the screen, screws in via little fasteners in the back and then provides easy, physical access to temperature controls, the stereo and more. Clever, right? I wish more automakers would consider UX-centric accessories like this. It feels a bit like something Apple would do, which is in keeping with the SU7’s status as “China’s Apple Car.” It’s made by a tech giant and also connected to a user’s Xiaomi smartphone and software ecosystem.

Not to sound like the host of some late-night infomercial, but wait, there’s more. The SU7 can be had with a broad range of accessories. Check out some of them in the video below.

There’s the button bar, sure. But you can also get a top-mounted digital speed and range gauge cluster, a box that diffuses different fragrances, side-mounted light bars and an outdoor Bluetooth speaker much like Rivian offers. 

It all seems very delightful, so much so that I wonder what the company has in store for the nearly 1,550 horsepower version coming soon.

In the meantime—more physical alternatives to just screens in cars, please.

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