Detroit, Are You Listening?

The UX Time Warp on Wheels

I slid into a brand-new car recently and felt like I had stepped into a time machine. The vehicle was 2025, but the user interface screamed 2013. The center screen greeted me with clunky menus, a laggy map, and a voice control system that misunderstood simple requests. I couldn’t help thinking: why are our cars still stuck with a dashboard logic from a decade ago? Modern smartphones are effortless, yet many in-car systems remain clunky, ugly, laggy and confusing to use. It’s no wonder infotainment systems top the list of owner complaints, with nearly twice as many problems reported in that area than any other – especially around Bluetooth and built-in voice recognition. In an age when my watch can talk to me, I still have to yell at a dashboard like it’s an old radio. Come on, Detroit, are you listening?

Legacy U.S. automakers have nailed the mechanics – today even budget cars are faster, safer, more reliable than ever. But when it comes to the software and soul of the driving experience, they’re running on fumes. The result? Dated infotainment systems that feel like afterthoughts, and voice assistants that feel about as smart as a decade-old flip phone. There’s no emotional design in these interfaces – they get the job done (mostly), yet they don’t spark joy or connection. It’s a lot of sterile touchscreens and canned voice prompts, lacking the warmth you’d expect in 2025. For many car brands, “providing delightful HMIs” (the screens and controls we use every day) is still a goal, not reality. The focus has been on not breaking things, rather than making them lovable. In short, the UX of many cars today is like an old CD player in a streaming era – functional, but totally missing the magic.

New Players, New Playbook

Meanwhile, a new generation of electric vehicle (EV) companies is eating Detroit’s lunch when it comes to user experience. Especially in China, brands you may not even have heard of are reimagining the car from the ground up. They aren’t saddled with “that’s how we’ve always done it” – instead, they start with a blank slate and design for a world of touchscreens, AI, and constant connectivity. Chinese EV makers often differentiate themselves through software and UX, treating the car like a smartphone on wheels with giant dashboard displays and rich tech features. High-tech goodies that might be options (or non-existent) in legacy cars come standard: think autonomous driving, advanced voice recognition, and even in-car AI assistants built right in. These companies live and breathe digital – it’s in their DNA.

Even Ford’s own CEO, Jim Farley, recently sounded the alarm. He called the rise of Chinese EVs “the most humbling thing I have ever seen,” admitting their cost, quality and in-vehicle tech are “far superior” to what Western automakers offer. In China you can buy an EV that feels like a rolling supercomputer, while here in the US we’re still fussing with buggy Bluetooth pairing. Farley marveled that in a Chinese EV “you get in, you don’t have to pair your phone – your whole digital life is mirrored in the car automatically”. That’s the kind of seamless, fluid experience customers now expect. And it’s not just one or two models – a whole wave of EV startups (Xpeng, NIO, BYD, and more) are pushing this envelope. Many of them build their own software stacks from scratch instead of outsourcing, resulting in a smoother, more integrated experience for drivers. The lesson is clear: user experience is the new battleground, and the newcomers are playing to win.

nomi from NIO

NIO’s “Nomi” in-car assistant is a cute, circular screen on the dash that can swivel, wink, and talk – a prime example of designing a car’s interface to feel like a friendly companion rather than a sterile machine. In fact, NIO (a Chinese EV brand) explicitly set out to build an emotional connection between car and driver. “It’s about building lifetime relationships with the user,” one NIO executive said – the car should behave like a friend, not just a vehicle. That’s why they created Nomi, a little digital co-pilot with a face. Instead of barking orders into thin air, NIO drivers can speak to Nomi and see it look back and respond – a subtle but powerful change. Why? Because, as NIO’s team realized, if your car is truly a companion, “why does the user have to shout into thin air…? Normally, when a person is talking to another person, they look at each other”. By giving their AI a physical presence, NIO injected warmth and personality into the driving experience. Chinese designers aren’t alone in this – across many new EVs there’s a trend of anthropomorphized assistants (eyes, voices, personalities) greeting drivers. It might seem gimmicky, but it taps into something deep: our cars can make us feel something. Western automakers, on the other hand, have barely begun to explore this kind of emotional, human-centered design in the cabin.

All of this is to say, the game has changed. A car’s value isn’t just measured in horsepower or reliability anymore – it’s also in how it makes you feel and how intelligently it interacts with you. Mercedes-Benz’s design chief famously said “screens are the new horsepower,” reflecting that modern buyers care about digital experience as much as engine specs. Beauty, intelligence, fluidity – these aren’t afterthoughts; they are becoming core to the product. Newcomers get it. Does Detroit?

A New Interface Era: Meet OMO

As a founder working in this space, I couldn’t watch this shift happen from the sidelines. I’ve spent my career enamored with the idea of cars that feel like companions. That’s why I started OMO – to signal a new era of interfaces, one where your car is more than a machine you drive. OMO is our answer to the cold, clunky status quo. It’s not just another voice assistant or another pretty screen; it’s a whole ethos for in-car experience. We want your car’s interface to feel alive – to greet you in the morning with your favorite podcast queued up, to adjust the ambiance when you’re stressed, or even crack a joke when traffic is at a standstill. In short, we’re designing OMO to bring warmth, presence, and proactivity into your daily drive.

Think of how a good friend in the passenger seat might perk up and say, “Hey, you seem tired – let’s get some coffee.” That’s the vibe we envision for OMO. It’s the opposite of the generic voice monotone that makes you repeat an address five times. With the tech available today – from AI to sensors – there’s no reason our car interfaces can’t adapt to us and care about our experience. Done right, your car can anticipate your needs (like a gentle reminder of an upcoming meeting or suggesting a scenic route when you’ve got time to spare), instead of just reacting to commands. It can have a personality: warm, witty, maybe even a little playful – whatever suits you. This isn’t sci-fi; it’s coming to life now. And it’s sorely needed. After all, we spend hours in our cars every week – why shouldn’t those hours be enjoyable and even uplifting?

I firmly believe that in a few years, we’ll look back at today’s button-heavy, menu-maze car dashboards and laugh, the same way we chuckle at early smartphones with their tiny screens. The future is a car that knows you, an interface that learns and improves, a ride that doesn’t just take you from A to B but keeps you company along the way. OMO is our stake in that future. We’re building it with a simple principle: make it feel human. If we succeed, every drive will feel a little less like operating machinery and more like spending time with an old friend.

Detroit, are you listening? The world is moving on, and drivers are too. The good news is that a better in-car experience is on the horizon – and I’m excited to be a part of it. If any of this resonates with you, I invite you to join our waitlist and be among the first to experience OMO’s magic for yourself. Let’s shape this new era of automotive UX together. And hey, we’re sharing our journey (and plenty of behind-the-scenes fun) on Instagram – come say hi @waybox.ai. Your car is about to get a lot friendlier, and we can’t wait to introduce you.