I don't understand the touch screens in cars, I would expect them to be more expensive than physical buttons. Are there that many people who think it's fancy that it's a selling feature?

Belgium-based NCAP says that purely digital controls are a potential safety issue. "What we now see is we have more and more ... crashes where people are having collisions because they're being distracted," said Matthew Avery, NCAP's director of strategic development. That matters because fatal car accidents are on the rise in the EU. More than 20,000 people died on the roads in 2022, a 4 percent increase over 2021. The bloc wants to halve the number of road deaths by 2030, with the goal of zero fatalities by 2050. Moreover, if the displays don't have tactile feedback, drivers can be distracted by having to poke at the screen — unsure if the controls are registering. "The problem with touchscreens is that there is inherently a lag in them, and more importantly, there is no haptic feedback," car interiors become increasingly high-tech, the different systems are starting to diverge. Gone are the days of getting into a car and immediately knowing where all the controls are; nowadays drivers have to adjust to each new car. the illumination from the screen diminishes the ability to see down dark road[s] because pupils normally adjust when [cars] have more light inside and [the] instrument panel and touchscreen causes an additional amount of light in the car, therefore diminishing nighttime vision," Carmakers like Tesla which rely heavily on new tech will have to decide if NCAP's five-star rating is worth reversing its interior design

Side note: touch screen are a gimmick not a new technology. the scale you have at the mall has a touch screen and has had one since the 90's. These touch screens are used in specific locations and settings to manage complex ui, with a lower maintenance cost and the chance to keep a device running for longer with a simple os update. Most touchscreen are, believe it or not, still resistive, as they have a strong feedback and they work across most temperature ranges. Most touchscreens are added to static tools like lab tools or workstations like lifts, scales, and so on. At no point they added resistive touchscreen in cars when the tech was new. Wanna know why? Touchscreens suck. Than the Iphone came and brought us here. Now we think that touchscreens are futuristic and fancy. Not, they aren't. Star wars and even Star trek had all physical control with full sets of buttons for the management of the ship. If a starship that you always liked had physical buttons why shouldn't your car have that design?

Wow, have any car manufacturers actually tried changing these functions to touch buttons? I know Tesla got rid of the stalks, but my understanding was they still had physical buttons on the wheel to replace them.

Can't wait to get enough money to buy a car before 2005

I only have a touch screen for entertainment and configuration and still notice how distracted I get when I have to use it. No haptic feedback and multilayered menus are just a bad idea while driving.

Cherry in top is driving at night with astigmatism when theres's a whole illuminated panel in your face.

That's actually a good idea, because when your finger is wet the touchscreen doesn't work and on touchscreen is more difficult to develop muscle memory, so you spend more time distracted trying to find the spot on screen to touch

Do any cars actually put those 5 listed controls in their screen though? I think even teslas have buttons for all of those.

can we please throw in banning blue LED headlamps too?