Jaguar Design Boss Doesn’t Want Giant iPad-Like Screens In His Cars

During a presentation for the facelifted Jaguar XE at a newly remodeled dealership in Manhattan, Jaguar director of design Ian Callum stated that he’s not a fan of big 12-inch iPad-like screens when it comes to cars.

“Not if I can help it,” he said when asked if the British automaker is going to install such a display onboard their models any time soon. In fact, he didn’t have anything nice to say about giant touchscreen displays, the kind Tesla pioneered with the Model S.

“If you’re driving 80-90 miles an hour – and you can in some countries, legally – you don’t want to be flipping around an iPad looking to move your door mirrors or your seat controls,” said the 20-year JLR veteran designer. “You need to be able to feel your way through the car without looking at it for more than a millisecond.”

He then pointed to the Jaguar XE’s dual-screen setup, which provides the driver with the most important information at the top, and minor things like climate control functions, below. It also features tactile controls, which according to Callum give drivers a sense “that they are part of something mechanical,” reports Autonews Europe.

While we can definitely understand his point of view, such a stance against giant touchscreen displays has to be temporary, given the fact that at one point in the not-too-distant future, cars won’t require drivers to maintain their eyes on the road all the time, which means designers will be able to focus on making car interiors a great deal more interactive.

For now though, this is a debate worth having, so which way are you leaning when it comes to in-car screen size?