Well yes - there has been some research on the use of touch screens in safety critical systems. For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49319450 https:

Well yes - there has been some research on the use of touch screens in safety critical systems. For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49319450 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49319450 "We got away from the physical throttles, and that was probably the number one feedback from the fleet - they said, just give us the throttles that we can use," said Rear Adm Galinis. (EDIT: TFA also talks about buttons, and not being able to find information on screens). OP article is probably a case of the market working it out if Volkswagen is doing it without regulation. I doubt Tesla-like multi-modal touch screens are going to be default ever. They were never a good idea. But regulation is essentially the people coming together to say "never again", and that is their right in a democracy. Like it or not as inventors or inventor-adjacent folks we might look more harshly at it. But we also have that power and I don't see a problem per se in using it to direct the market on somewhat trivial things like this. My wife will finally be able to use my phone chargers b/c of the EU legislation on apple chargers.