[lnanek2]

I used to feel that way, then noticed my friend driving a Tesla. He had this neat use for the LCD that showed a map of where all the cars around him was as output from the sensors. Yes, theoretically, on a traditional car you can adjust the mirrors so you have no blind spot and check them all religiously before lane changes and the like - but I still felt he had more awareness of who was in what lane than someone in a traditional car would have.

[sklargh]

I'm not hating on ADAS or even screens, FWIW I will not purchase a car without radar-based adaptive cruise control, it's a game changer and I know it's better than I am at maintaining attention over a long period of time. Nor would I begrudge anyone satellite navigation or a simple music interface.

What I am talking about is the habit burying all simple functions in menus or on touchscreens. Temperature control, vent direction, volume, fwd, back on music, basic menu navigation. Inevitably these cumulative seconds of searching add up to enhanced risk for pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists.

[vel0city]

My thoughts on these things:

> Temperature control

These days automatic climate control is usually pretty good. I've been using ACC since my 2000 Honda Accord EX. The only climate control feature I routinely mess with on my cars is to turn on the defroster, which at least for the cars I drive still have physical buttons. Other than that the climate control stays on automatic fan, automatic temp, and I rarely even adjust the temperature. On one of my cars even my heated seats and heated steering wheel come on automatically. Having manual climate controls leads to more distractions for me, as then I'm having to actually change controls.

> vent direction

I definitely agree this is pretty ridiculous. I don't quite get why its better, are cars with this feature automatically repositioning vents at times? I truly don't understand the value and agree with you on this. I shouldn't need a menu to open/close or reposition a vent.

> volume, fwd, back on music

Most cars have these on the steering wheel. The steering wheel controls really should be the driver's primary way of manipulating the stereo instead of taking a hand off the wheel. IMO putting the stereo controls on the touch screen ends up making me less distracted, as it essentially forces me to use the wheel and voice controls instead of messing around with controls away from actually driving the car.

Meanwhile, having the actual app available on the large screen means my passenger can dig through playlists easier, switch between apps easier, etc. It also means as we move towards having a large screen that its easier to glance and get a good idea of the map as opposed to having a smaller map in a navigation system.

[nradov]

I don't think radar is strictly necessary. The camera based adaptive cruise control in Subarus generally works pretty well except in heavy rain.

[archi42]

I personally wouldn't trust optical systems, but to be fair I've never driven a recent Subaru. The radar on my 2014 Volvo is extremely reliable, even in heavy rain and I make heavy use of it in nearly all traffic situations. It only ever failed me once, and I can't blame it, since that was during the worst cloud burst I ever witnessed. The Autobahn went from "nice day with medium traffic" to "<2m visibility" in less than a minute, and literally everyone pulled over to sit that one out.

[KerrAvon]

From experience, the Subaru system is pretty good at lanekeeping and distance following. Never had any scary experiences with it.

[oblio]

Modern cars have blind spot indicators.