It's a cycle. Car designers went a bit crazy with buttons about 10 years ago. This was when bluetooth/carkits was becoming the norm and touchscreens were nowher

It's a cycle. Car designers went a bit crazy with buttons about 10 years ago. This was when bluetooth/carkits was becoming the norm and touchscreens were nowhere near good (cheap) enough. Or expected. So slightly older dashboards will feature upwards of 40 buttons while super modern ones will have none. In a few years they will go back to normal. As for smartphones, they are unfixable. Maybe tactile touchscreens will help in the iPhone 16 (or possibly even the iPhone 15S?)