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I appreciate your stance and also hate these kinds of safety features from a usability standpoint. However, keep in mind that they're not there just for you -

I appreciate your stance and also hate these kinds of safety features from a usability standpoint. However, keep in mind that they're not there just for you - they're there to keep the drivers around you safe. If you're messing with the navigation controls and smash into the car in front of you, a completely innocent driver is suffering because you didn't want your car to babysit you. Also, for what it's worth at least two of the OEMs I've worked with are in the process of adding passenger-detecting tech to the seats and head unit so that if someone is in the passenger seat, the full touchscreen controls will be unlocked.

ars 11y ago
> If you're messing with the navigation controls and smash into the car in front of you, a completely innocent driver is suffering because you didn't want your car to babysit you. No, it's not because the car didn't babysit me, it's because I messed with the controls. I have lots of way to crash into people, the car can help me avoid it, by knowledge and help, but not by restrictions. If you put in passenger detecting tech I'll be sure to activate it permanently if I buy that car (or not buy the car if I can't). They already have passenger detecting tech anyway - it's a weight sensor, it makes the seatbelt light beep. I'll probably have to remove the seatbelt beeper though, since it would activate constantly thinking there is someone in the seat. And this is why you should not add such lockouts - people will disable them, and remove safety features in the process. And in any case machines are not smart enough for them to be in charge, there are too many special cases and failures.