No thanks.
I do not have an Echo, Google Home, or any other voice automation. I have no desire to replace all my UI's Knobs, and switches with Voice Control
I have no desire to talk to my home or my car.
Perhaps I’ll be forced to adjust one day. Perhaps the world is just leaving my preferences behind. I do complain even more passionately about touchscreens on blenders…
EDIT: Here's a proof of concept from 8 years ago. I think this would be nice to have on my Tesla. Best of both worlds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JelhR2iPuw0
* Control the wipers
* Adjust air con
* Adjust the stereo
In the newer model, the blinkers are controlled by some horrible touch sensitive buttons on the front to the steering wheel.
There’s no misconceptions here at all. I went and test drove one and that’s how it works. You can go watch some users guides on YouTube of people explaining all of this.
Air con: automatic works great. No need to adjust. Absolutely no need to look at it either. Of course you can optionally do so if you really want to. There might be voice control for this too but I haven’t even had a need to try.
Stereo: There’s a button for adjusting the volume and navigating to the next song, and back to the beginning of this song and then, if clicked again, to the previous song. Also plenty of voice search and voice control options. And sure the screen may optionally be used if you want, but no need.
It would be unfair to expect anyone to learn all these things from a test drive. But that’s no reason to assert that they positively do not exist.
The buttons on the wheel can be used to control the stereo, but the functionality of those buttons on the steering wheel is context-dependant on… what’s happening on the screen.
Now, it’s fine for you to like these design decisions. They’re very popular cars, so it seems likely that a lot of people do. But I can’t stand them, and you’re not going to convince me that they don’t exist.
I guess It’s also possible that I’m just very stupid, and I’m using it wrong. In either case, as a consumer, my preferences are for cars that are designed to be more suitable for the stupid.
You can set the temperature by voice control. Or… you could buy another car.
What the buttons do is dependent on modes that do happen to show up on the screen, but you can switch those modes using voice commands.
>I guess It’s also possible that I’m just very stupid
Unlikely, and I don't think so, but I'd say it's possible to miss some things in a test drive or two. I'm still learning new things about the car after two years of driving it. It takes a lot of complex work to make things simple.
It's also a moving target. You can say "it doesn't do X" but next week it might, with a software update.
Meantime, there are other cars, so it's all good! Sure it's true that some car models adopt patterns innovated by others, but I'm sure some cars will remain strictly manual control for those who want that.
From the drivers seat of the ICE car I currently drive, I can use my hands to control basically everything without taking my eyes off the road. This hasn’t been possible in any of the EVs I’ve driven. I think some of the more affordable models have more traditional central consoles, but I don’t really want a low end EV…
I expect all my sales objections to EVs will disappear over time, as the technology and infrastructure improves. But that’s one I’m never getting over. I just can’t imagine I’ll ever buy a car where everything’s controlled by touch screens.