Don't entirely agree. As long as the important switches that you have to use at any point in your drive are to hand (they're usually on stalks by the steering wheel anyway) then non-time sensitive parts can be part of a touchscreen.
I, like anyone who hasn't just passed their test and is an average driver, can readily glance at a control and press it even if it is on a touchscreen - you just don't do it on a corner with a large vehicle right in front of you , or while going through a built up area at permitted speed. The example of the heater with no visual feedback until you press something is dumb, however that is ux rather than based upon touchscreen controls.
In my car, for instance the radio, media, gps, bluetooth phone unit is on a touchscreen but it also has physical buttons that can do all the features that touching it can do. However I find the touchscreen much easier and quicker to use (much less of a distraction) than the physical buttons, which I almost never use (volume and channel change is on the steering wheel anyway).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
