Range Rover Velar Touch Pro Duo (2017)

The Range Rover Velar is a new and fascinating look into modern British car design, but to see something that truly looks to the future in a >£50,000 SUV is pretty special. We’re not talking about the hidden door handles or slinky headlights, but a detail in the cabin that should not only spread across the Land Rover range, but also across the industry as a whole.

The detail in question is Land Rover’s new infotainment system, InControl Touch Pro Duo, which is made up of two 10-inch screens that sit on differing levels of the dashboard. The higher screen looks and functions much like previous infotainment screens as seen in Land Rover products, but it is the lower screen that is of more interest here.

The reason is not its functionality – which is pretty vast nonetheless – but its tactile interface, and the way that Land Rover has so artfully combined physical knobs within the core functionality of the screen.

All infotainment systems are by nature a compromise – touchscreen systems require lots of downward glancing to ensure what you are pressing is what was intended, while physical buttons and controls are becoming less practical due to the sheer multi-functionality of these systems. For a long time now, the Germans have solely used controller systems which sit somewhere between the two, but only now are we seeing the sweeping move towards touchscreens by models like the all-new A8.

The Range Rover Velar has these same problems, specifically the need for occupants to look a fair way down the dashboard to see the screen you are prodding, but the ability to use tactile knobs for the control of temperature and mode functions, and how graphically the different functions react to on-screen modes is perhaps where the Velar and its new infotainment system is at its most clever.

Rival manufacturers like Audi promised to not jump into touchscreens until they could perfect the technology – a bold claim now we have the new A8 to scrutinise – but regardless of whether the system has a few user interface problems or not, the new Velar and the effortless way those two rotary knobs integrate into not only the screens, but also the interior design, is something that Gerry McGovern and the team responsible for the Velar’s interior design should be proud of.