Yeah and I guess some things, like door locks, are actual mechanical things that involve having a motor there anyway so it shouldn't be too hard to just expose

Yeah and I guess some things, like door locks, are actual mechanical things that involve having a motor there anyway so it shouldn't be too hard to just expose some part of that mechanism in a way that indicates the state. This is done now with that little nubbin that sticks up, but I think can be made more obvious. I think the big sticking point is usually climate control and radio since that's what people fiddle with most while driving. Maybe little things like the ride mode selector (but I'm not sure how many people actually fiddle with those sorts of things in practice). But nowadays the "radio" is rarely just radio or disc/cassette player. It's music, audiobooks, or podcasts off a phone. I don't really know how you do that with integrated controls that aren't screen based, like most luxury cars already have the little control wheel and also controls on the steering wheel. So what more would you need? Maybe some haptics on the control wheel to give you more feedback?