Forget Buttons: Volkswagen’s Upcoming Golf Lets You Control Everything via Gestures and Touchscreen

Daniel Bean
·Assistant Editor
Updated

German automaker Volkswagen says its upcoming Golf R Touch will be the most technologically advanced car on the American market. It might also be the touchiest.

Volkswagen Gulf R Touch
Volkswagen Gulf R Touch

Gulf R Touch. (Yahoo Tech)

The press Monday was treated to a first look at a prototype of the R Touch, which packed a multiscreen touch- and gesture-based input Infotainment dashboard, as well as proximity- and touch-sensing controls throughout the entire vehicle.

Dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system
Dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system

Main dash of the infotainment system. (Yahoo Tech)

The main in-dash screen is a high-resolution panel that can be customized to show a number of different information tiles — weather, speed, music, navigation, and so on. A second, smaller touchscreen at the bottom of the dash serves as a live systems panel, showing buttons and options that coordinate with the display above it. This screen also offers a unique bulging, tactile response to touch, which is meant to help drivers navigate through controls without having to take their eyes off the road.

Gesture controls (seen below) are also a big part of the way VW’s car of the future works. Turning the volume up or down, changing a song, or opening the sun roof are all doable with waves of your hand or finger.

GIF of gesture controlling dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system
GIF of gesture controlling dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system

(Yahoo Tech)

GIF of gesture controlling dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system
GIF of gesture controlling dashboard of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch car infotainment system

(Yahoo Tech)

And the smarts go further in R Touch, with things like preferences for seat positioning capable of being modified and saved as templates in the car’s system. Even the interior trim of the Gulf can be changed from the center dash.

Gesture controlling sunroof of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch
Gesture controlling sunroof of the Volkswagen Gulf R Touch

Opening the sun roof with a gesture. (Yahoo Tech)

Volkswagen says the rubber beneath this concept car is probably “years” from actually meeting the road, but the sneak peak we saw looks and feels promising.

Volkswagen press conference
Volkswagen press conference

CarPlay and Android Auto are coming to VW car entertainment systems. (Yahoo Tech)

In more immediate VW news, the company has announced that both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be integrated into its line of vehicles later this year. Compatible apps from iPhones and Android phones will be able to interact seamlessly with upcoming models of Golfs and other Volkswagen vehicle makes that feature the App-Connect Infotainment system add-on.

Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at @danielwbean.