Back in the day I did a long cross country trip with a Garmin 60CSx hiking GPS, held in my right hand, which I was also shifting with. I didn't use it for turn by turn navigation (following such things sucks anyway), but rather a detailed map with a live "you are here" indicator. To look at it, I held the unit halfway up and glanced down when I could naturally spare the attention. For input, I pushed the buttons without looking, since I could predict the unit's states (push button X to zoom out, push button Y 3 times to get from map screen to statistics screen, etc). It even had text input, in the form you'd probably grimace at (grid of letters, move using arrow buttons, select using enter button), which I believe I did while driving with no problem (it took quite a while to enter anything, of course). Due to the predictable input states and physical buttons that I never had to consciously locate (same position in my hand), it never felt like it affected my OODA loop or otherwise stole my attention.

FWIW, while safe, that would probably be illegal in many states you pass through due to hands-free device laws.

That is probably true these days, unfortunately. The held-in-hand aspect was key to the device being easy to use safely. If the GPS had been mounted to the dash/vent instead (per current customs), then each button press would have taken more effort to visually register where the button was and verify that I was hitting it, similar to a touchscreen. Also, I suspect focusing on a more vertical screen would have required my eyes adjusting to cancel the ambient backlight, greatly slowly my ability to change focus.

I also did most of the driving barefoot, which it turns out actually is not actually illegal as many urban legends would have you believe. That too gave me much better control modulating the clutch, handy for things like rough dirt roads.

My Audi has a knob which I can rotate in order to navigate through the menus without taking my eyes off the street. It also has a touch screen, but I only use it when standing still.

Mazda has something similar. I realized that "do __ without taking your eyes off the road" isn't really true, for the same reason that it's hard to read your phone and listen to someone at the same time. Most of the time you can strike a balance, but every once and a while your mind will completely blank and take a few moments to realize you stopped processing what you were hearing. Not a risk worth taking while driving.

I try to avoid using the knob while in motion as well.

There's also a difference between taking your eyes off the road momentarily to look at a simple predictable display in a fixed location, like a light or a needle or a fixed text display, and taking your eyes off the road indefinitely to look at a screen that displays something unpredictable, complex and arbitrary as part of an interactive session, usually with animations.

Do you refuse to ride in Ubers, or avoid Amazon delivery vehicles? I have to admit that the level of tech-denial in this thread seems to be getting out of hand. Everyone uses in-vehicles maps. Everyone deploys them on touch screens. They're pervasive and everywhere, and none of the arguments change when you bolt them to the dash.

Why is "Tesla" being held to a different standard than UPS/FedEx/Amazon/Uber/Doordash/etc...?

Things did get diverted on a maps drove tangent but that usually on our pose to enable the same argument you're making now.

The argument started by asking why windshield wipers, environment controls or basic radio functions need to be buried in a touch screen.

Also most vehicles limit what's allowed in navigation screens while the vehicle is moving. Which is annoying when it prevents a passenger get from using it but sensible when there is a single driver.

I would say because Tesla is doing something similar to this (well, not the ditching, but the bad part that comes before the eventual ditching) and basically what the study found:

    Navy ditches touchscreens for knobs and dials after fatal crash

https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/11/navy-ditches-touchscreens-...

Did you commented under wrong comment? I can't see how it fits here, it seems to be response to something that was not said.

The only navigation thing I can do that feels safe while driving is “Hey Siri, take me to XYX.” Any non-verbal way to interact will take your eyes and hands away from driving far too much.

Which is great when it works but possibly the most irritating thing in the world when it doesn't.

No matter what I tried recently, I couldn't get Siri to provide directions to Kohl's. It simply couldn't understand what I was asking for.

3. co-driver or other passenger

In the UK it is a legal and moral requirement to use Pull over when en route to Cardigan.