Those pesky manual switches will be history

[Exonian]

Tens of millions of iPads have more or less killed the home desktop/laptop PC for Mr and Mrs Average.
The world has embraced fingerprints and the touchscreen.

Give me proper buttons any day, especially in a car.
And proper dials and gauges.

[Guzzle]

Tens of millions of iPads have more or less killed the home desktop/laptop PC for Mr and Mrs Average.
The world has embraced fingerprints and the touchscreen.

Give me proper buttons any day, especially in a car.
And proper dials and gauges.

I know what you mean. I still find my laptop easier to operate than my tablet, and generally prefer it in all aspects except portability.

Although I am now rather fond of the AID, that I was initially indifferent about. Although it is sometimes a little laggy first thing on a cold morning.

[david25]

Maybe Skoda and Seat will still have switches?

[fredgroves]

Do the people  that design these things ever actually use them?

I suspect that they do, but ultimately they are over-ruled by someone else - probably someone else with a spreadsheet in their hand.

That's how my job goes - we tell them not to do things and they do it anyone because of "cost".

[Talk-torque]

Drove a Volvo XC40 recently with very impressive tech and few manual switches. Everything can be done via the screen, but also via voice control that appeared to work as intended.

[SRGTD]

Drove a Volvo XC40 recently with very impressive tech and few manual switches. Everything can be done via the screen, but also via voice control that appeared to work as intended.

Voice control would be OK as an alternative to manual switches, provided it works as intended and the system can understand different regional accents.

Without voice control, the prospect of potentially having to navigate through menus and sub menus for simple functions such as changing the cabin temperature or direction of airflow while on the move is a bit scary, and dangerous in my opinion. Even if it’s not necessary to navigate different menus and sub menus, hitting the screen in the right location to make the desired change while on the move isn’t anywhere near as safe or easy and pushing a button or turning a knob, which can usually be done without diverting your eyes from the road. 

I’m not a technophobe, but I’d take conventional heating and ventilation controls any time over a touch screen for these functions.