The actual fix would involve simplifying the driving experience. Adding 30+ buttons to the steering wheel and 25+ to the console does not improve the situation

The actual fix would involve simplifying the driving experience. Adding 30+ buttons to the steering wheel and 25+ to the console does not improve the situation. The bar should be whether the operator can keep their eyes on the road while operating the controls. And when getting into a new vehicle, how easy can they find common controls like mirrors, climate, parking brake, cruise without consulting the manual. I rented a Highlander which did have nice physical controls, but many features were buried in cryptic menus. The auto steer feature, which dragged and pulled steering in corners, and aggressively applied braking , was buried under 3 levels of menus labeled "RTSS", "SCS", "Advanced". Capable drivers don't need cornering and braking assist. It's $2k+ worth of useless components , for a worse driver experience.