when did screens first come to cars

It’s hard to imagine a car’s dashboard without some kind of screen these days. From navigating city streets to selecting our favorite playlist, these digital displays are our co-pilots. But this technology wasn’t always a standard feature. The journey from simple analog dials to the high-resolution infotainment hubs we know today is a fascinating story of innovation that spans decades.

Many people wonder when did screens first come to cars, picturing the sleek LCDs of the 2000s. The truth, however, takes us back much further, to an era of cathode-ray tubes and a car that was truly ahead of its time.

The Answer: A 1980s Pioneer

The first car to feature a screen was the 1986 Buick Riviera. This vehicle introduced the Graphic Control Center (GCC), a monochrome, touch-sensitive CRT (cathode-ray tube) screen that replaced traditional buttons for the radio, climate control, and other vehicle functions. While innovative, the technology was a bit before its time. The screen was slow to respond, and drivers found the menu-based system distracting compared to simple, tactile knobs.

What were those early car screens like?

Unlike today’s vibrant displays, the Buick’s GCC was a black-and-green screen that required the driver to navigate through menus for even basic tasks. Around the same period, the 1989 Nissan Maxima offered a small, monochrome screen for its trip computer, displaying information like fuel economy. In the early 1990s, Oldsmobile’s Toronado Trofeo featured a version of this technology, continuing the experiment with dashboard screens. These early systems were clunky, but they planted the seed for the digital future of the automobile.

From Novelty to Navigation Hub

The real turning point for screens in cars came with the widespread adoption of GPS navigation. In 1990, Mazda’s Eunos Cosmo was the first production car with a built-in GPS navigation system, complete with a color screen. Throughout the 1990s, Japanese and European luxury brands began offering navigation as a costly option, cementing the screen’s role as a practical tool rather than just a flashy gadget. This shift paved the way for the integrated infotainment systems we rely on today.

Looking back, the path to our current digital dashboards was a gradual evolution. It started with a bold, if imperfect, experiment in the 1980s, gained purpose with navigation in the 1990s, and exploded with connectivity in the 21st century. That journey from a simple green-tinted touchscreen to today’s widescreen command centers shows just how far automotive technology has traveled.