This Buick Touchscreen Display Was Decades Ahead Of Its Time

The first-ever in-car touchscreens didn’t happen by accident. They are a direct result of Buick’s desire to become the industry leader at the time. It all started in 1980, when Buick executives wanted to develop a vehicle with the most cutting-edge technology (via Hagerty). This was established through GM subsidiary Delco Electronics, which came up with a touch-sensitive CRT specifically for automobile use. Unlike modern capacitive touchscreens, this display was embedded with rows of invisible Mylar switches, which performed different functions depending on the page its user was on.

The problem was, it took a while before these dated monitors could display anything, so its engineers cleverly made it heat up once the driver touched the car’s door handle. Then-Buick executive Cary Wilson claimed the company “set the stage” for what he believes is the “new generation” of automotive electronics, according to Hagerty. However, Buick only used this system again for the ’88 Buick Reatta before eventually discontinuing it in later models. Aside from its incessant beeping noise, among its other notable flaws was its tendency of distracting drivers by drawing their attention off the road, as Top Gear noted. Of course, this wasn’t the end of car touch screen monitors, it just took another two decades before such technology would make its return.