cheerful

Does anyone know if there is a plan to add touch screen? The current COMMAND control is not that friendly.

Thanks

NYC-Style

I don't think we'll see that...I know that there are aftermarket systems which are touch screen...I have one. The COMMAND system (at least for me) was actually very simple...I use the buttons for temperature controls...the other features I've set and really no need to fool with them again...i.e. ambient lighting, audible door locking, interior/exterior lighting. Touch control I've found requires more of my attention when I use it than does the COMMAND system. I found that while initially the COMMAND system appeared complex...the majority of the features you can access are not used. I'm not sure how long you've had your car but give it time and you'll be an expert at it...

cheerful

That's probably true. However, do you use integrated navigation? How does it work for you?

Leslielp

I think Mercedes has said on more than one occasion that they believe that touch screens are a major distraction. Now this can be taken as just marketing the fact that they don't have touch screen


There is very little that the integrated voice command cannot do on this updated Command system.


You can say #, Street, City and bang it will find it.
You can call up any media device, radio station (HD FM/Satellite), Memory card.
You can ask for any of your phone contact and say dial home/mobile #
Overall its very fast compared to the previous systems.
There are several * buttons which will quickly bring up a duplicate of the quick touch buttons that will take you directly to any of the menu items instantly.

NYC-Style

I've used it...and so far I haven't had any issues...truth be told I've only used it twice...but it worked great in both of the circumstances. What I'm trying to get used to is the graphics...I'm accustomed to Garmin screens which (to me) provide better visual cues. The COMMAND audible cues also needed getting used to...i.e. "prepare to turn"; "turn in 200 feet"; "now turn"...again it's not a feature that I've used a lot.

StanNH

The touch pad is pretty close to a touch screen in function. A touch screen would be more direct, but it would never work with the screen in the present location. It really would require a stretch and be very distracting.

While I certainly have my issues with the way the menu structure is set up, particularly with the number of steps required to get to some common functions, a touch screen is not on my list of improvements.

Germancar1

Mercedes has stated that there will be no touch screens in their cars. BMW also. Only VW and and Porsche will use them. I believe Audi has stated that they won't either.

M

vic viper

Hopefully they will never use them.


Oh the fingerprints ..

jbbeauso

I find touchscreens very difficult to "navigate" while driving. They require a certain amount of precision which is hard to achieve while your body and car are moving around.

F1BHP

Alpine make very good and easy to integrate touch screens for most mercedes models. They come with trim kits also. I am going with the new 7" alpine with car play. This just acts as a monitor for your iphone and gives maps texts phone. I think it is around $750

c4004matic

Touch screen or no touchscreen everything that takes your eyes off the road is a distraction. Cars are simply getting way too many doodads. People think that driving a car can be like piloting a jet. In fact driving a car takes a lot more concentration than flying. When you fly a plane you have maybe 15 minutes of concentration (landing and lift off), the remainder of the time you mostly sit there and look out the windows. On a car, particularly in urban driving you have to be constantly hyperaware of your surroundings, pedestrian, cars, trucks, turns, cops, traffic signals, you name it. Even on a runway a plane has it easier since you have air traffic control telling you exactly what to do and where to do it (hopefully). The smartphone is an insidious thing, yes it very helpful and connects you to a world of information. But its a horribly dangerous thing in a car.

cheerful

Do you have a link?

Thanks

ddarko

Yep, it's unnecessary/bad/distracting until someone else does it.

BMW has changed their mind. iDrive in the upcoming new 7 series is touchscreen:

http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/11/24/g1...idrive-system/

Expect Mercedes will introduce touchscreens once BMW touchscreens are out (I'm sure it's already in development). It may take a couple years but touchscreens will arrive on Mercedes, if only so they match BMW.

vic viper

Oh snap!, and people call the Mercedes infotainment screen ugly

greasykid

Have driven over 200,000 mi in all models of Lexus w/touchscreens. DO NOT WANT THIS ON MY MB!!. Real pain. Fingerprints. Touches that don't respond. Eyes off road. Etc.
Have no problem using COMAND. Sometimes I use voice commands & other times use Controller. After a while COMAND becomes very easy to use. Second nature. More often I use voice commands. Safer too.

ddarko

No attitude was intended on my part. I just mean the Germans track each other very very closely and any feature introduced by one will eventually show up in the others. BMW has copied from MB and Audi so they all do it.

Personally, I think like with most things, touchscreens in cars depend on how well it is implemented. With all the electronics and chips in cars today, cars can't exist in a bubble apart from developments in the wider world and that includes mobile devices where touchscreen have pretty much taken over as the preferred input method. Many people are comfortable with touchscreen and they expect it and find it strange that it isn't in cars. If we're going to have display screens in cars - and we are, we've passed the point of no return long ago - I'd prefer the displays to be capacitive touchscreens like on mobile devices. I think the relying on input devices like the wheel controllers or joysticks to be incredibly stiff; it's odd you can't just touch the display to select what you want to do. I'm not a fan of subsuming ALL controls into the touchscreen like Tesla and I hope that doesn't matter - physical controls for some functions will always be preferable over digital . Of course, car makers have yet to prove themselves capable of writing good software so I expect the first couple generations of touchscreen iDrives to be terrible like iDrive was when it was first introduced.

DBOC205

I seem to recall seeing a video of a guy in Europe who built an aftermarket kit that turned the W205 Command into touch-screen. Can't find it again though.

Got to admit, coming from two cars that had touch screens, I was surprised that the benz didn't incorporate it. The idea of drawing letters on the touch-pad seems far less intuitive than just typing on an on-screen keyboard. Anyway - wait and see. Might be OK.

cheerful

I can't agree more

cheerful

I found this but not for 2015 model

http://www.incarnav.com/mercedes_benz

I wonder if later on a touch-screen replacement can be installed, without breaking the warranty

mihaelb

got a touchscreen keyboard in my car's stereo...It DOES make you take your eyes off the road too long, as you not just need to see what you're tapping, but also confirm that you tapped the right thing. In this case, the touchpad, where you draw the letters helps in that respect.

But switching between functions or picking navigation points would be easier with a touchscreen.

Jim K

I live in the fourth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Traffic is intense. No question in my mind touch screens do not belong in cars. A dangerous distraction. As other writers have noted there is no need for it. Bad enough people have cell phones glued to their ears and some have started texting while on the freeway. Comand has verbal commands to change stations, get directions, etc. Just concentrate on driving. Please.

gfmohn

I'm looking forward to getting used to the COMAND audible cues you describe. My present Garmin portable GPS uses cues that don't sufficiently distinguish between approaching a turn or destination and being right there. The screen shots I have seen in MB promotional literature from the Garmin SD chip as installed in the C-Class match what I am used to on my Garmin portable. So I assume MB uses the same Garmin audibles.

PeteInGilroy

They both have their advantages. I drove Lexus vehicles for 10 years that had touch screens. When they went to the mouse controller, I went to a different brand car so I would still have a touch screen. I didn't like that vehicle and went back to Lexus, with a mouse controller.


I've gotten used to the controller and really like not having a smudged screen and I've gotten more proficient using voice commands and that is really the best.


I think using the touch screen takes less thought and less time of eyes off the road as you are only looking and touching the screen with a finger. With a controller your mind is concentrating on moving you wrists/fingers and looking at the screen while inputting commands....but that's just me.


Neither one is safe.

cheerful

I agree.

Jonobigblind

Although on my W205 the nav instructions are barely audible, even with the auto volume lowering on the radio.