[costcopizza]

One overlooked feature of physical controls is that they also give interiors an identity and experience.

Growing up obsessed with cars, I loved seeing how different brands would lay out the cabin. Volvos from the 2000s used a rather large diagram of a seated person to select the HVAC vent for example.

Also, in my brain, a 3000+ pound object just dang requires some stuff to physically press, push, and hear click!

A couple giant touchscreens with touch controls nearly eliminates that.

[marssaxman]

The classic Range Rover has a seat-adjustment control in the shape of a little seat. If you want your seat to lean back, you just grab the back of the miniature seat and push it in the appropriate direction; the motors in the actual seat move it to match.

While I'd have preferred a simple, bulletproof, nonmotorized seat, if one must automate, that's a great interface.

[johnwalkr]

Other cars have this too. I was going to make the same comment, it’s such a perfect interface.

[masklinn]

> Volvos from the 2000s used a diagram of a seated person to select the HVAC vent for example.

… don’t all cars do this? I can’t remember seeing anything other than that to represent which vents are active.

[rdlw]

Here's a picture: https://www.media.volvocars.com/uk/en-gb/media/photos/47385/...

[russellbeattie]

I get what you're saying, but I totally disagree with it. It reminds me of mid-2000s Nokia, where each year they completely redesigned their phones simply to change them. It turned out what people wanted was a brick with a few common buttons, a nice screen and a standard GUI.

The main problem stems from the fact that car manufacturers will always choose novel designs over usability. They change components not to improve functionality, but simply for differentiation. As you pointed out, even if a control is well designed like Volvo's HVAC, it's phased out during the next refresh.

A newer problem is that every single car maker is beyond incompetent when it comes to software and UX. It's not part of their culture and expertise. So in addition to bad or missing buttons, even the screens are a nightmare.

This is an entrenched idea in the automotive industry, so it probably won't change, but it's something that really needs to stop in my opinion.