What do the CES years from 2022 to 2026 tell us about the future of technology and mobility? In this episode, I’m not looking at individual gadgets, concept cars, or trends. Instead, I focus on three fundamental shifts: CES is back. The traditional car manufacturers largely aren’t. Mobility is increasingly breaking away from the car. And software is evolving from a function inside the vehicle to the foundation of the entire product.
So the key question is no longer just: What will the car of the future look like? It is: Who will define the technological system in which that car will eventually be just one part?

What remains after a day at IFA 2026? AI is everywhere, but increasingly disappearing into the product. At the same time, buttons and rotary controls are making a comeback. Robots are leaving the labs, exoskeletons are becoming lifestyle products, E-Ink is making digital content feel analog again, and smart glasses want to put even more technology between us and the world.
Nine observations from IFA and one question that is becoming more important than “What can technology do?”:
Which technology do we actually want to have in our lives?

What was the real story behind Car.HMI 2026 in Berlin? It wasn't bigger displays, smarter voice assistants, or even AI itself. Instead, one idea connected almost every discussion: orchestration.
In this episode I share my key takeaways from the world's leading Automotive HMI conference. Discover why the cockpit is becoming just one touchpoint in a much larger digital ecosystem, how AI is evolving from assistant to orchestrator, why Human-Centered Design is becoming more strategic than ever, and why the next generation of vehicles may be defined not by software, but by the experiences they create.
A forward-looking summary of the trends that will shape Automotive UX, HMI, and the future of mobility over the coming decade.

Chinese carmakers are rapidly expanding into Europe, bringing with them a new generation of highly digital, connected, and AI-powered vehicle interfaces. But will the HMIs that delight drivers in Shanghai create the same experience in Berlin, Paris, or Milan?
In this episode, we explore the myth of the universal user, examine why Chinese and European drivers often have very different expectations of technology, and discuss why successful HMI design must go far beyond translating menus and localizing content. From transparency and trust to automation, privacy, and Cultural UX, we uncover how culture shapes the way people interact with technology.
The future of Automotive HMI may not lie in creating different vehicles for different markets, but in building global platforms that deliver locally relevant experiences. Because as technology becomes increasingly global, one challenge becomes more important than ever: making technology feel human everywhere.

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.