[afarrell]

Which allows them to have the UI for controlling the car be done by a team without strong communication links with the team designing the rest of the car's UX.

Is that a genuine benefit, or one that shows up more early in planning and who's downsides show up late?

[TeMPOraL]

It's a benefit to the business. There are way more variables of interest to consumers in a car than just UI; few if any will take a crappy touch UI as a dealbreaker (especially if everyone does crappy touch UIs). So it's a pure win for business - the downsides never reach them, they only materialize on the user end, large enough to frustrate people and maybe even cause accidents, but small enough to not cause a purchasing decision change the next time one is in a market for a car.

(I need a term for those cases. Psychological externality?)

[brokenmachine]

Vested disinterest?

[smdyc1]

That sounds awfully like Boeing's 737-MAX MCAS debacle.