I think an interesting approach might be a hybrid system that works with both touch and physical buttons. The bottom of the screen could have some generic butto

I think an interesting approach might be a hybrid system that works with both touch and physical buttons. The bottom of the screen could have some generic buttons that could be used to navigate the interface eyes free with some optional audio feedback. For example, I'd imagine a row of buttons like in the OP where maybe the left two buttons are up and down. Depending on the context, the buttons do different things but those two always mean up and down although up and down might mean volume up/down, fans up/down or menu scroll up and down. The screen could then give huge display feedback for those things that wouldn't require much if any driver attention. The nice thing about the touch is that it allows for a giant display that requires less visual attention when used in conjunction with buttons. It also gives flexibility to add (hopefully inessential but pleasant) functionality or fix interface design mistakes after the fact. It just shouldn't be the primary interface while driving. Like I have no problem with the audio system having an eq app with just a touch ui because I probably don't need to adjust eq when driving, unlike say volume which ideally would just be a physical knob or rocker. But yes I agree that most current touch interface are horrible lowest common denominator solutions. They are easyish to learn but tend to require significant visual attention which is obviously poor design for something that is used when driving.