The 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS, a fully electric sedan aimed directly at Tesla’s top range, offers an optional screen that extends the full width of the dashboard. Mercedes calls it the MBUX hyper screen because it is not only a screen but also hyper.
MBUX is, of course, the infotainment system that Mercedes introduced in 2018. The MBUX Hyperscreen will be its full expression so far. The screen will be bright and look smooth with the OLED technology. It is 56 centimeters wide and has 377 square centimeters of surface area.
But what’s most interesting to me is how Mercedes says it uses artificial intelligence for personification.
Quoth Merc:
Mercedes-Benz investigated the usage behavior of the first MBUX generation and learned that most usage cases fall into the categories of Navigation, Radio / Media and Telephone. Therefore, the navigation application is always in the middle of the screen unit with full functionality for ease of use. More than 20 functions – from the active massage program to a birthday reminder and suggestions for a to-do list – are automatically presented using artificial intelligence, if relevant to the client. “Magic Modules” is the internal name given by the developers to these proposal modules, which appear on the zero layer.
Here are four examples of use cases. The user can accept or reject the proposal in question with just one click:
1. If you always call one specific person on the way home on Tuesday evenings, you will be asked to make a corresponding call on that day of the week and at the specific time of the day. A business card will appear with their contact information and if it is saved, the photo will appear. All MBUX suggestions are linked to the user’s profile. If someone else runs the EQS on a Tuesday night, this recommendation will not be made – or another one will be made, depending on the preferences of the other user.
2. If the EQS driver regularly uses the hot-stone massage function available in the optional Active Multicountour seats, the system automatically teaches the driver hot-stone massage function in colder temperatures.
3. If the user frequently uses both the heated steering wheel and the heated seat functions, MBUX suggests turning on the heated steering wheel as soon as the user turns on the heated seat.
4. The suspension of the EQS can be increased to provide more ground clearance. A useful feature for steep ramps or speed bumps to create a smoother ride. MBUX remembers the GPS position where the user used the “Raise Vehicle” function. If the vehicle approaches this GPS position again, MBUX suggests that the EQS be raised automatically.
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All the examples of Mercedes are not exactly essential, but I can see that the ride height comes in handy if you live somewhere where you would use it. In addition, the screen is an interesting look into where information goes in cars. (It is too far from the first big screen we saw, very far.)
Mercedes, for example, is moving away from sub-menus – the so-called “zero-layer” has the most important programs not available at all – which is a welcome change because sub-menus are often the most annoying part of using new car infotainment. This is good too, because the thing that people miss about buttons and knobs is that they put everything there in front of you.
Gorden Wagener, head of design at Mercedes, said the strategy is basically to make technology that does not always keep users as low, as is sometimes said about touch screens for cars.
If I use MBUX intuitively, I do not have to think about whether and how. When we look at the thinking of my parents’ generation, they ask: do I want to use technology? It’s completely different today, the fusion of technology and design makes it so easy: I want to use this technology. If technology can do a lot, but I have to work out the usage, I always stay at a distance. Therefore, it was important that our success is based on the idea that it should work just as well as it seems.
Here are some more photos; do not sleep on the holes.
