Jony Ive, iPhone designer, explains why the Ferrari Luce rejects touch screens

You either love him or hate him, but he Ferrari Luce It has not left almost anyone indifferent. The firm’s first 100% electric car is a statement of intent. A commitment to the future that, to do so, gets rid of a good part of its past. And in that setting there is a unique element: the prominence of physical controls and the reduction in the relevance of screens in cars. Why bad design can be lethal. Leo Abrams was publishing these days a video interview in which he asked Jony Ive because of something he had said in the past: “people are dying because of bad design.” What did that mean? In the case of the car, the answer for him was clear: “Multitouch technology is wonderful for a mobile phone, because when you’re using a phone, you’re looking at that phone. But multitouch technology shouldn’t be in a car, I think, because if you have to do basic things, it requires by definition that you don’t look at where you’re going in the car, and that you look at the screen.” Stop looking at the screen so much. For Ive the danger is obvious: if you don’t look at the road, you have a good chance of having an accident. It is a discourse already known in the automotive segment, and since touch screens they became fashionable the debate has always been there. Replacing traditional physical controls with controls that were more typical of a mobile phone or tablet seemed like a recipe for disaster. The Euro NCAP certification body took this into account for your tests: five stars can only be achieved if some functions (turn signals, hazard lights, horn, windshield wipers) ensure the use of physical controls. muscle memory. The problem is not the screen itself, which is tremendously useful for things like GPS navigation, but rather that “touch blindness” that these touch screens impose. Physical buttons allow you to use muscle memory: you can operate them without looking. Touch screens force you to look where you press, which we insist, introduces serious risks while driving. Multitouch technology is not for everyone or everything. Ive also reflected on how any tool has the potential to be used for good and evil “in unpredictable and unexpected ways”, and that is one of the reasons why for him the role of touch technology in the Ferrari Luce had to be almost anecdotal. “I was very fortunate to be involved in the development of multitouch technology. It’s a fantastic technology that makes some new user interfaces possible, but it has to be used appropriately, thoughtfully and carefully.” Result: fewer screens, more touch. The interior of the Ferrari Luce It was the first thing we were able to know about this carand it was already clear at that moment that this was going to be a Ferrari very different from the rest of the Ferraris but that retained that love of touch: the Luce uses physical controls, rotary dials, switches and buttons everywhere. The screens are also present, yes, but touch is clearly a priority over sight, at least when it comes to controlling the vehicle’s options. This is about being better. At the beginning of the interview, Ive made a point: “just because the power source is electrical, one seems to assume that the interface should be digital and that is a big leap and I think that thinking that is presumptuous.” It seems evident that from the beginning Ive and the Ferrari designers and engineers were clear that this car was going to be differentand Ive himself confirms it: “We are trying to solve problems in new ways. Not to be different or new, but to be better.” In Xataka | The new Ferrari Luce is much more than Ferrari’s first electric car. It is a desperate cry to find a new audience

1,050 HP, design by Jony Ive and a very different idea of ​​an electric car

Ferrari could do many things with his first electricbut it could hardly be allowed to go unnoticed. The Luce arrives after years of waiting and with an obvious symbolic charge: we are not just talking about changing gasoline for a battery, but about checking how far Maranello is willing to move the limits of its own tradition. The brand has revealed it in Rome today, May 25, 2026, a date chosen for its link with Ferrari’s first victory in 1947, when the 125 S won the Grand Prix di Rome. Before getting into the details, it is worth remembering where this model comes from. Ferrari presented at the Capital Markets Day 2022 a multi-energy strategy based on technological neutrality, a way of saying that electrification will coexist with other architectures within the brand. The Luce is the first fully electric result of that roadmap, but it is not proposed as a replacement for combustion or hybrid Ferraris. An electric Ferrari designed to change more than just the engine The first thing that catches your attention when seeing the Luce is its format. Ferrari had already crossed the four-door line with the Purosangue, but here it takes another step: for the first time it offers five seats in a series production car. The explanation lies in its specific electrical architecture, which allows the battery to be integrated under the floor and the rear seats, freeing up the cabin and eliminating the central tunnel. Ferrari maintains that this configuration would not have been possible with its traditional transaxle schemes, with a front-mid engine and rear gearbox. The other big change is in who has shaped the car. Ferrari entrusted the design of the Luce to LoveFrom, the creative collective founded by Jony Ive with Marc Newson in 2019, and the first name does not need much introduction for anyone following the recent history of technological design. It is an unusual decision for a brand with its own design center directed by Flavio Manzoni. According to Ferrari, this external look allowed us to introduce a new language that is not limited to the bodywork, but also reaches the interior and the interface. This approach is especially noticeable in the silhouette. Ferrari defines one of the main features of the Luce as a “glass house” with a clean, almost shell-like shape, which extends below the belt line to the ends of the car. Around it appear front and rear aerodynamic wings that appear to float above the main volume, as well as transparent light panels integrated into the surfaces. And then there are the halo-type rear lights, which Ferrari links to the 360 ​​Modena and the 458 Italia: seeing them for the first time it is difficult not to feel a certain nostalgia in the midst of such a different design. One of the most recognizable decisions of the project appears in the cabin. Ferrari and LoveFrom have not followed the most obvious path in many current electric cars, where almost everything ends up inside a screen. The Luce combines physical aluminum controls, buttons, dials, switches and OLED screens developed by Samsung Display for this model, with the main information concentrated in front of the driver. The idea, according to Ferrari, is to unite the mechanical and the digital without one thing erasing the other. And that, in a car whose creative direction has gone through LoveFrom, is much more interesting than just another giant screen. The numbers, however, are inevitable. Ferrari declares a maximum power of 1,050 HP in Launch Control mode, four electric motors, one per wheel, and a 122 kWh battery with 800 V architecture. On paper, the Luce accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, reaches 0 to 200 km/h in 6.8 seconds and reaches a maximum speed of 310 km/h. The estimated range is around 530 kilometers, although here it is worth maintaining the nuance: Ferrari indicates that this figure is still under homologation. In an electric Ferrari, sound is not a minor detail. The brand says it has worked five years and 40,000 kilometers of specific tests to develop a system that, according to Ferrari, does not generate a synthetic sound, but rather amplifies the real mechanical vibrations of the electric axles. That signal is processed in real time and changes depending on the e-Manettino mode and the use of the cams. In parallel, the four motors, the active suspension and the rear axle steering ensure that the Luce is not only fast in a straight line, but also capable of managing with great precision what happens at each wheel. And now it’s time to talk about more numbers. Reuters places its price above 500,000 euros, while the Ferrari page in Spain already allows it to be configured, although it still does not show the price or allow it to be purchased directly: the next step is to send the information to a dealer. The reasonable doubt, as always in a car so loaded with promises, remains for when we can see it on the road and not only in the figures offered by the company. Images | Ferrari In Xataka | If the EU’s strategy was to suffocate Chinese cars with tariffs, the 2026 figures leave a very clear conclusion

Jony Ive’s design makes his position on screens clear

“A large touch screen it doesn’t work in a car. That is unquestionable.” This is how blunt Jony Ive was recently. in an interview published by Top Gear. We are not only talking about the former head of Apple design, but also about the figure that Ferrari has turned to, along with LoveFromto shape the interior of the Luce, the first production electric vehicle in its history. The movement is not minor: it has an enormous symbolic load for the brand and, at the same time, it opens the door to a proposal that seems to move away from one of the most repeated formulas in the industry. Now, in addition, we know a little better where that path goes. After a few first previews published in FebruaryFerrari has once again shown the interior of the Luce in a new video and this time the material is much more useful to understand what the brand is trying to do. The first glance already suggested that we were not looking at a conventional cabin and opened the door to very different readings. This second tour, however, allows us to go a little further than the initial impression: it is no longer just about seeing a striking design, but about beginning to understand how Ferrari wants the driver and car to relate to this long-awaited vehicle. The interior of the Ferrari Luce points just in the opposite direction to the screen fashion If we look atwhat Ferrari teaches in this second tourthe interior of the Luce seems built around a fairly clear idea: returning prominence to physical interaction. The central screen is present, yes, but it does not dominate the dashboard nor is it presented as the absolute great center of the car; in fact, it appears integrated next to physical controls for various functions. Added to this is a digital display behind the steering wheel organized into three configurable dials and an ignition sequence that starts when a specific key is inserted into the center console. The video, however, does not allow us to categorically state that there is no tactile interaction, but everything points in that direction. Ive’s words help us read this proposal much more precisely. In his recent conversation with Top Gear he stated that the large touch screen not only seems like a debatable solution, but also directly unsuitable for real use inside a car. He even defined it as an “easy” and “lazy” response. If we take that frame and look at the Luce video again, the idea gains coherence. If we look back, a good part of the industry has followed the same idea of ​​modernity for years: fewer buttons, more screen surface and almost all functions concentrated in a large central panel. Tesla had a lot to do with that turn. Not only did it help turn the electric car into a desirable product, it also pushed a very specific way of understanding the interior. That is why Ferrari’s movement is so interesting. Just when it is time to enter this new stage, it seems to have preferred explore a different direction. Ferrari points out that It will be an electric car with a 122 kWh battery, 880 volt system and a range of close to 530 kilometers according to European tests. The video, for its part, shows 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds. There is, however, one big piece that remains to be fully revealed: its final exterior appearance. The launch will arrive on May 25 in Maranello, before starting production at the end of 2026 and deliveries at the beginning of 2027. There will be time to discuss whether this bet ends up working as well in practice as it suggests on paper. But what Ferrari has revealed so far already allows us to draw a provisional conclusion: the Luce does not want to limit itself to being the first electric car in the house, it also aspires to open a different conversation about how a car should feel inside. And that, in an industry that for years has pushed almost en bloc towards total screen, is already quite significant. In Xataka | We have normally accepted that cars have become rolling screens. China is tired

His trick is to follow the philosophy of Jony Ive

If you work in a more or less large company, you will surely have already suffered one of its endemic evils: meetings. Or rather, have many meetings. Steve Jobs I was clear that they were a huge problem and Larry Page had a hard time solving it because yes, excessive meetings are not something new by any means, although with teleworking they will skyrocket for obvious reasons. And for Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, they are the symptom of a much worse problem within the company. The key to having fewer meetings: manage tasks, not people In fact, the co-founder of Airbnb is clear that this abundance of meetings is not an evil but a sign of aspects to improve within the corporation. To begin with, its size: “It is not because there are no Wednesday meetings. It is because there are too many people“, counted in a talk for Khosla Ventures. The manager’s proposal involves employing a small, high-level workforce: “We want a small, agile, elite and highly qualified team, not a team of mid-range people. And the reason is that each person implies a communication tax.” And he points out another problem that points directly to human resources: mediocre hiring. Basically, in Chesky’s ideology, when someone is not capable of doing a job, they hire people who do not know how to do it either and they also hire more people to carry it out in a kind of empire of incompetence. Each person pulls in a direction, so of course they have to meet to share their progress. And more bureaucracy. Also, lead by example: account which completely removed the layers of management so that only people truly specialized in a given task lead it: “You can only manage the function if you are an expert. You don’t manage people. You manage people through the work.” In a nutshell: you manage tasks, not people. His inspiration: the legendary Jony Ive, now working closely with Sam Altman in building a device with AI. Ive’s philosophy It involves focusing on work and forming a team that designs together. In Xataka | Bill Gates has been a famous “workaholic” but he knew who to hire to solve problems: the lazy ones In Xataka | The quality that Warren Buffet advises to always look for in job candidates Cover | Airbnb and Marcus Dawes via Wikimedia

Sam Altman spent 6,500 million to create a Gadget from AI next to Jony Ive. Now they face a problem

In September 2023, Sam Altman, CEO of Openai and Jony Ive, former chief chief in Apple, gathered to devise a revolutionary device they called “the iPhone of the AI”. They were serious because this year Openai bought the Startup of IVE for a whopping 6,500 million dollars. A halo of smoke Mystery has surrounded this collaboration since it was announced and now that new news arrives is because the project has problems, some more serious than others. The “problems.” They tell it in Financial Times. Openai wants to launch its mysterious Gadget Superventas next year. However, sources close to the company ensure that the project has encountered critical problems that could delay its arrival. The team is having difficulties when deciding the personality that the wizard will have, something crucial for a device designed to always be on. There are also doubts about whether to do it as the classic assistants that are only activated when we invoke them or allow it to act by yourself when you consider it useful. The big problem. Assuming that Altman is right and his gadget becomes a global success, the most serious problem they face is that OpenAi does not have the necessary computing power to operate its models on a massive use device, and that costs money (something that OpenAi is not left over precisely). In the case of Alexa or the Google, Amazon and Google assistant they have plenty of computing to make them work without depending on anyone else. OpenAi has chatgpt, The most popular chatbot in the worldand need to work with external investments. First it was his Alliance with Microsoftafter SoftBank’s investment, according to Nvidia And the newly announced according to AMD. If the gadget they want to launch ends up being massive as Altman wants, the numbers do not come out. The device. We do not know what you will call or what design will you have. The details that Altman and Ive gave in their day were quite lazyIn fact, they focused more on saying what it will not be than what will be. It will be similar to the mobile, but it will not be a mobile. Nor will it have a screen, but we will communicate with him through cameras, microphones and speakers. And they will not be glasses either. Nothing concrete, but for the moment it reminds a lot of Ai pin of Humane, that He failed loudly. OpenAi goes for hardware. OpenAI enters $ 1,000 million per monthbut the speed to which money burns is much higher than the one that enters it and would need to enter ten times more to be profitable. Even so, the company is already valued in half a billion dollars. Entry into the hardware business makes sense as a way of justifying its value. Beyond the doubts that arise around this mysterious device (They are many), Openai is very serious about creating a hardware division. When buying the IVE startup, they added 20 employees and later They hired several Apple experts and also of the finish team in charge of the target Quest and smart glasses. We will have to keep waiting to see if it ends up materializing in In Xataka | Data centers for AI are an energy hole. Jeff Bezos’s solution: Build them in space

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