Mercedes to rival Tesla’s hallmark touchscreen

Daimler unveiled a new display screen on Thursday that will cover nearly the whole dashboard of its luxury Mercedes-Benz models, in a bid to outdo Tesla’s hallmark touchscreen infotainment system.

In a video presentation, Daimler Chief Executive Ola Kallenius said the new “Hyperscreen” – which at 56 inches (142.24 cm) in width dwarfs Tesla’s vaunted 17-inch screen – will launch in the EQS later this year, Mercedes’ new wholly electric sedan.

The EQS, with a driving range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), will be the first in a family of four vehicles constructed on the same all-electric platform.

“There’s huge customer demand for this screen,” Kallenius informed reporters on a conference call. He said the dashboard would be an optional feature in the EQS, “but we expect a very high take-up rate,” from buyers.

As well as including vehicle functions such as the speedometer, and music and navigation features, the screen will allow passengers to access some vehicle functions and, in some markets, to watch television without disturbing the driver.

Kallenius said apart from revenue from the screens themselves, Daimler expects future profitable growth of subscription services, including maps or entertainment customers will download.

“It is part of our business strategy to increase this profit pool of recurring revenues,” he added.

Tesla has dominated worldwide electric vehicle sales and traditional automakers like Daimler have been pushing to develop vehicles to compete for market share. Recently, its CEO Elon Musk became the world’s richest person.

The pressure to outdo Tesla has been heightened by stricter emissions standards in the European Union and China, and the decision by an increasing number of countries to start banning sales of new petrol or diesel cars as early as 2030.