Mercedes-Benz MBUX Hyperscreen teased

The existing twin-screen Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) infotainment system is already at the forefront of automotive multimedia technology, but now the German car-maker has previewed its next step in the field – and it’s likely to eventually filter down to all future Daimler models.

Details are scarce ahead of its world debut on January 7, before its public display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas over January 11-14, but the new MBUX Hyperscreen is claimed to be “the beginning of the next chapter in interaction between vehicle and user”.

Apart from this teaser image, Mercedes-Benz says only that the MBUX Hyperscreen will take the operation and display of infotainment, comfort and vehicle functions to a new level thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).

The German car-maker has confirmed it will debut as an option in the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan, an all-electric limousine claimed to offer a 700km WLTP driving range – one of six all-new EQ models promised by 2022, including the EQS SUV.

We won’t get our first proper look at the new AI-equipped Hyperscreen until January, when the Mercedes-Benz is also likely to reveal the interior of the EQS, which will be launched in key overseas markets in the second half of 2021.

But the most impressive aspect will be the massive curved screen that runs the entire width of the dashboard ahead of both the driver and front passenger, “for whom the digital experience is as emotional as it is intuitive and effortless”, says Benz.

Multimedia screens ahead of the front passenger aren’t new; the Ferrari F12 presented one of the first in 2012 and the Porsche Taycan, Honda e and Jeep Grand Wagoneer have since expanded on the idea.

A number of others get half way there with large one-piece central and driver’s digital displays, including the expansive 15-inch Innovision centre screen that’s integrated with the digital instrument cluster in the latest Volkswagen Touareg and the twin-screen MBUX set-up available across almost the entire Mercedes-Benz range.

But the new MBUX Hyperscreen will go one step further than those systems by presenting a single, continuous screen that spans the full width of the vehicle.

Following its world debut on January 7, it will be presented in detail at the CES on January 11 by Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG chairman Ola Kaellenius, head of Mercedes-Benz advanced digital design Vera Schmidt, and Mercedes-Benz AG CTO Sajjad Khan.