For decades, automotive HMIs lived inside the vehicle. Today, they extend across smartphones, cloud services, wearables, external displays, and AI-powered assistants. The car is no longer a standalone product, it is becoming part of a larger digital ecosystem.
In this episode, I explore the rise of Liquid HMIs, the shift from vehicle interfaces to connected HMI ecosystems, and the growing importance of digital identity and personalization. I also examine the strategic battle between OEMs, Apple, Google, and other platform providers for control of the user relationship.
The central message: the future of automotive HMI is not about more displays, more apps, or more features. It is about intelligently orchestrating an ecosystem that consistently creates value for people.

In this episode of the Human-Technology Podcast, I talk about one of the most important, and most misunderstood, topics in modern automotive HMI development: multimodality.
Touch, speech, gestures, haptics, gaze control, AI assistants, modern vehicles are rapidly turning into highly complex multimodal systems. But does adding more interaction channels automatically create better user experiences?
Not necessarily.
This episode explores why multimodality is far more than a technology trend. It is about cognitive load, context, trust, safety, and the fundamental question of how humans should interact with increasingly intelligent vehicles.
Peter argues that the future of automotive HMI will not belong to the vehicles with the highest number of features, but to those that best understand which interaction makes sense in which situation.
Key topics in this episode include:
1. Why multimodality is system architecture, not feature accumulation
2. Why context almost always beats technology
3. The return of physical interaction and “The Revenge of the Analog”
4. How AI transforms multimodal systems into adaptive interfaces
5. Why real value creation means reducing complexity instead of adding more features
A thought-provoking episode about the future of human-centered automotive interaction, and why the best technology is often the one that feels least like technology.

Automotive HMI is hitting a breaking point. For decades, it was simple: more features, more tech, more screens. That playbook no longer works. Automation turns cars into actors. AI turns interfaces into interaction partners. China introduces entirely different HMI philosophies.
And beneath the surface? Even bigger shifts: software-defined vehicles, peak display, multimodal interaction, and HMI ecosystems beyond the car. But here’s what most people miss: This is no longer about usability.
It’s about trust, control, cognitive load and the role of humans in intelligent systems.
In this episode, I break it down:
-The 3 obvious challenges
-The 5 underestimated ones
-The one meta-challenge that matters most: not losing the human in the system
Because if we get this wrong, we’ll keep building technology that can do everything, except work for the people using it. If you want to get this right… we need to rethink HMI fundamentally.

For years, digital was treated as the inevitable future: more screens, more software, more touch, more automation. But a counter-movement is emerging. From vinyl and paper to physical controls and tangible interaction, people are rediscovering the value of analog experiences.
In this episode of the Mensch-Technik Podcast, I analyze why this is not nostalgia, but a deeply human correction. I look at David Sax’s idea of the “Revenge of the Analog,” explain why humans remain fundamentally analog beings despite living in a digital world, and discuss what this means for the design of technology.
The key question is especially relevant in the automotive industry: if touchscreens and digital interfaces create cognitive load, distraction, and distance, what should the next generation of HMIs look like? The answer is not less technology, but better orchestration, multimodal, situational, and truly human-centered.

Technology is no longer just a tool. It is moving closer, into our bodies, our decisions, our identity. In this episode, we explore a fundamental shift: the blurring boundary between human and machine, and the consequences that come with it.
At the center lies a growing tension between two worldviews. Humanism places dignity, autonomy, and the imperfect human at the core. Transhumanism challenges these limits, seeing humans as systems that can be optimized, enhanced, and ultimately transcended.
Through three powerful developments, we make this transformation tangible: the merging of humans and technology, the rise of self-directed evolution, and the emergence of humanoid robots that increasingly mirror us.
But the real question is not technological. It is deeply human.What happens when we stop asking what technology can do and start asking what humans should become? Who defines the “better human”? And where do we draw the line?
This episode challenges a common assumption: that technological progress is the ultimate frontier. It argues the opposite. The real bottleneck is us, our values, our maturity, our ability to take responsibility. Because in the end, the future will not be shaped by how far we can go. It will be shaped by where we choose to stop.
Or, put bluntly: Technology needs the human. Not the other way around.

In many companies, usability is still treated as a “nice to have.” First comes the technology. Then the features. Then the marketing. And somewhere at the very end someone asks the question: Is this actually usable?
Yet this is exactly where one of the biggest economic misconceptions in technology development lies. Because usability does not cost money, poor usability costs money. A lot of money.
Products that are difficult to use generate support costs, require training, frustrate users, and often fail in the market. Good usability works in the opposite direction: it reduces friction, accelerates adoption, increases productivity, and strengthens customer loyalty.
In this episode, I analyze the Return on Investment of usability: why UX is not a design topic, but a business topic.
With real-world examples: from the iPhone, which turned smartphones into a mass-market device, to Amazon’s 1-Click purchasing, which directly increased revenue, and to spectacular failures such as Humane AI Pin or Google Glass, where the problem was not the technology, but the interaction.
The key insight is simple:
- Technology does not become successful because it exists.
- Technology becomes successful because people understand it and want to use it.

In this episode, I reflect on four open questions that emerged during my time in Las Vegas. Where is the automotive industry heading as vehicles become software-defined platforms? What role will CES play for the mobility industry in the future? How are automotive HMIs evolving as systems become more intelligent and autonomous? And do robots truly have a meaningful role to play in our homes and workplaces?
The real challenge for the coming decade is no longer technological capability, it is human relevance. The winners will not be those who build the most advanced systems, but those who best understand human cognition, trust, and interaction.
CES 2026 may not have delivered definitive answers. But it made one thing clear: the future of technology will be decided not by machines replacing humans, but by systems that understand, support, and empower them.

This is the third episode of the CES 2026 series. If you haven’t listened to the previous two episodes yet, make sure to start there first. In this episode, we leave the automotive halls and explore the most important non-automotive technology trends that shaped CES 2026:
- The Revenge of the Analog
- Humanoid Robots and AI
- Smart Glasses as a new HMI layer
- Household appliances as smart-home computing hubs
- Exoskeletons and human augmentation
- The rise of Physical AI
One of the most striking observations at CES 2026 was what could be called “The Revenge of the Analog.” Amid AI demos, immersive displays and touch-heavy interfaces, some of the longest queues formed around surprisingly low-tech experiences: pinball machines, physical chess boards, and tangible interaction. These were not nostalgic gimmicks but strong signals. As digital systems become more complex, users increasingly value tangible, haptic, and embodied interaction. The future is not digital or analog, it is digitally intelligent systems expressed through human-friendly, physical interfaces.
Another major takeaway: robotics and artificial intelligence have fully converged. Robots are no longer just machines that move, they perceive, interpret, learn and adapt. At CES, robots appeared as embodied AI systems designed to create real value for humans by taking over repetitive, physically demanding or cognitively exhausting tasks. The conversation is shifting from automation to interaction, from technology as spectacle to technology as real human value creation.
Smart glasses are also maturing into a new everyday interface. Instead of bulky XR headsets, lightweight and socially acceptable glasses are emerging as ambient, always-on interfaces that provide context-aware information only when needed, quietly bridging the gap between humans and intelligent environments.
In parallel, household appliances are evolving into central computing hubs for the smart home. Refrigerators, ovens and washing machines are becoming connected, AI-enabled anchors that coordinate devices, services and data locally, improving responsiveness, privacy and ease of use.
Exoskeletons highlighted a growing focus on physical human augmentation. Rather than replacing people, these systems support movement, reduce physical strain and help address labor shortages and aging workforces. They represent a clear shift toward humane technology that works with the human body rather than replacing it.
Finally, CES showcased the rise of Physical AI, intelligent systems embedded in physical machines that perceive the real world, reason about complex situations and act in real time. From robots and drones to autonomous vehicles and smart appliances, AI is moving beyond the digital realm and into the physical world.

This is Part 2 of my CES 2026 series and we’re going all-in on Automotive. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode covering the show overall, start there first. At CES 2026, one message became unmistakable: the future of mobility is no longer shaped only by car companies. Software, AI, sensing, and cross-industry innovation are redefining what a vehicle is and how we interact with it.
In this episode, we explore four big areas:
1) Automotive & Mobility Trends
2) Automotive Technologies
3) Automotive Products
4) HMI Trends
Overall, CES 2026 signals a turning point: less screen hype, more human-centered thinking — and a mobility ecosystem increasingly shaped beyond traditional automotive boundaries.

CES 2026 is officially over… but the real work starts now: making sense of what happened in Las Vegas. In this first episode of a four-part series, I step back from the noise, the miles, and the caffeine to share a structured, no-hype reflection on the show, especially through an automotive, mobility, HMI, and AI lens.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- Who was there and who wasn’t: Why Big Tech dominated, while traditional automakers largely stayed away
- The shift in mobility narratives: Two-wheelers and micromobility everywhere, cars… strangely quiet
- Three personal highlights
- Big disappointments
- My creepiest moment
- What CES didn’t talk about