How Scout Motors Plans to Deliver Both Modern Tech and Digital Detox—Simultaneously
At CES 2025, Scout previewed the Community UX infotainment system for its Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV.
Can Scout Motors get right what so many experienced automakers keep getting wrong? The reborn American off-road brand thinks it can by taking a more balanced approach to touchscreens, connectivity, and in-vehicle technology in the Scout Terra pickup and the Scout Traveler SUV.
At CES 2025, Dré Nitze-Nelson, director of UX and UI at Scout, gave MotorTrend a preview of the infotainment system called Community UX that will ultimately end up in the Terra and Traveler. Scout’s EV and range-extended electric trucks won’t go into production until 2027 and are still under development, so don’t be surprised if some of the details discussed here change before the final versions arrive. Based on what we’ve seen, though, we’re optimistic that Scout is moving in the right direction.
The team behind Scout’s Community UX appears to understand what often seems blindingly obvious to, well, anyone who has been in a modern car: Today’s buyers want their trucks to do the basics—stream music and videos, sniff out the nearest taco joint, make a phone call, and send a text message—with the same speed and ease of a cell phone. At the same time, they don’t want the tech in their vehicles to dominate the driving experience. The act of driving should be a refuge from a world filled with screens that demand constant attention. That’s our philosophy, at least, and it appears that the people behind Scout have similar beliefs.
Behold: Physical Knobs and Buttons!
As we saw during the debut of the Terra pickup and the Traveler SUV, Scout plans to buck the buttonless trend started by Tesla and imitated by Rivian and Lucid that packs nearly every control into a touchscreen. In the Scouts, you adjust the mirror and steering wheel with dedicated knobs and you flick a lever to the left of the steering wheel to signal a turn. There’s a quartet of auxiliary switches by the driver’s left knee and a set of toggles for the locking differentials and related off-road features on the headliner.
Both Scout models also feature a row of dedicated physical climate controls under the 16.2-inch touchscreen. Those controls will allow drivers to adjust the temperature, fan speed, and air distribution without taking their eyes off the road even as they’re designed to be an extension of the screen rather than an entirely separate system. Notice, for example, how the temperature dials sit directly below the temperature readouts shown on the touchscreen. The switches just inboard of those dials change whether air blows at your feet, your torso, or the windshield. In the prototype, you can toggle them to cycle through the various options, but the first tap also summons an on-screen pop-up (right above the switch again) that allows you to directly select which vents are open.
It’s clear that Scout has been thinking hard about the user experience. The volume knob mounted on the screen’s right edge is practically out of reach for the driver because it’s intended to be used by the passenger. The driver adjusts the volume using a roller on the steering wheel, one of a handful of tactile controls dedicated to a single function. That alone feels like a novel and refreshing idea in the age of multifunction capacitive steering-wheel controls with no labels.
Getting the Basics Right
Community UX is being built in-house by Scout employees on top of Android Automotive OS, the industry standard for infotainment operating systems. As in a Rivian or Tesla, the navigation map serves as the de facto home screen, with Scout using overlaid widgets to show basic audio or phone call controls and information. Those widgets can also be expanded to show more detail. A row of icons on the lower left provides access to the core functions: camera views, vehicle controls, music, battery and charging information, and an app menu.
The Terra and Traveler are massively wide vehicles—wide enough that Scout plans to offer a three-person bench seat up front. The wide 21:9-ratio center screen helps designers bridge the space between driver and the right-side passenger, but it requires a unique interface to ensure the screen is functional. The audio widget can be flicked from one side of the screen to the other depending on who’s DJ'ing, or you can tap the arrow icon centered at the bottom of the touchscreen to swap the content on the left and right. To pull up the controls for entering a destination, searching for a charger, or tweaking the nav settings, the driver or passenger swipe in from either side of the screen.
Context Switching
Nitze-Nelson envisions the look and feel of Community UX adapting to how the driver is using their Scout. The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster defaults to a simple reinterpretation of Scout’s 1970s horizontal speedometers when being piloted by the driver. Activating adaptive cruise control pulls up a more modern display that includes what the forward-looking sensors see. Using a more advanced driver assistance system will take that a step further with a more detailed 360-degree visualization of the Scout’s surroundings while All-Terrain mode fills the cluster with the feed from the front-facing camera.
It’s a similar story with the navigation maps. While the standard view minimizes clutter to help with route-finding, switching the vehicle to All-Terrain mode layers on topographical details and off-road trails to help navigate less-traveled landscapes.
When You Need a Digital Detox
As an indicator of how Scout approaches tech, the prototype features a Detox mode, which strips down both displays to only show critical information. The screens in Detox mode are predominantly black with orange (Scout’s signature color) and white text-based graphics. When a navigation route is active, the instrument cluster will still display turn-by-turn directions, but rather than show a map-based route, the center screen provides a minimalist trip summary.
Internet Everywhere
Leaning into the Terra and Traveler’s off-road capability, Scout will pre-wire every vehicle for satellite internet. With an optional antenna and subscription plan, owners will be able to turn that connectivity into a wi-fi hotspot wherever they roam, even when they’re well beyond the reach of cellular coverage.
The Traveler prototype we played with suggested YouTube could be streamed through the center screen, although Nitze-Nelson says they’re still figuring out which platforms they’ll partner with for production. Scout also teased the idea of using the satellite connectivity and a GoPro mounted on the dashtop accessory rail to livestream video from their trucks back to the internet.
Taking the Right Cues from Tesla and Rivian…
We can’t fault Scout for riffing on good ideas pioneered by Tesla and Rivian. Outdoors mode is Scout’s version of Rivian’s Camp mode. It allows owners to power a tailgate, a campsite, or the construction of an off-grid cabin using the truck’s batteries or the optional Harvester gas-fueled range-extender. It also runs the climate control, satellite wi-fi, and audio systems, and when equipped with the optional air springs, can level the vehicle to make for more comfortable sleep in the Traveler’s cabin, in the Terra’s bed, or in a rooftop tent.
There’s a Pet mode, too, to keep four-legged friends comfortable and safe while their owner is away. Scout’s on-screen art is based on photo-realistic renderings, in a stark contrast with Rivian’s cel-shaded illustrations that look like they were ripped out of a comic book. The demonstrator features an animated German Shepherd, but Nitze-Nelson also imagines users being able to upload a photo of their own dog (or adventure cat).
…And Ignoring the Wrong Ones
If you interpret what you’ve just read as a different spin on the usual infotainment approach, maybe you’ll take solace in the familiar. Scout will give owners the option of using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, unlike competitors from Rivian, Tesla, and GM such as the GMC Hummer EV and the Chevy Silverado EV. Think of it as one more way the company is merging its fresh take on technology with old-fashioned common sense.
I fell in love with car magazines during sixth-grade silent reading time and soon realized that the editors were being paid to drive a never-ending parade of new cars and write stories about their experiences. Could any job be better? The answer was obvious to 11-year-old me. By the time I reached high school, becoming an automotive journalist wasn’t just a distant dream, it was a goal. I joined the school newspaper and weaseled my way into media days at the Detroit auto show. With a new driver’s license in my wallet, I cold-called MotorTrend’s Detroit editor, who graciously agreed to an informational interview and then gave me the advice that set me on the path to where I am today. Get an engineering degree and learn to write, he said, and everything else would fall into place. I left nothing to chance and majored in both mechanical engineering and journalism at Michigan State, where a J-school prof warned I’d become a “one-note writer” if I kept turning in stories about cars for every assignment. That sounded just fine by me, so I talked my way into GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly plant for my next story. My child-like obsession with cars started to pay off soon after. In 2007, I won an essay contest to fly to the Frankfurt auto show and drive the Saturn Astra with some of the same writers I had been reading since sixth grade. Winning that contest launched my career. I wrote for Jalopnik and Edmunds, interned at Automobile, finished school, and turned down an engineering job with Honda for full-time employment with Automobile. In the years since, I’ve written for Car and Driver, The New York Times, and now, coming full circle, MotorTrend. It has been a dream. A big chunk of this job is exactly what it looks like: playing with cars. I’m happiest when the work involves affordable sporty hatchbacks, expensive sports cars, manual transmissions, or any technology that requires I learn something to understand how it works, but I’m not picky. If it moves under its own power, I’ll drive it.
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