I’m in the same boat. I’ve felt the author’s panic when on the highway in a rental car with a shitty touchscreen UI and I can’t imagine paying money for a car that forces that on me in the name of … apps? I really want driving my car to be about driving my car, guys, not about what kind of bs you can fit on the screen while ignoring the basics.

It is ironic to me that carmakers are so enamored with the smartphone experience that they want it to take over the dashboard, when we are explicitly disallowed from using them while driving for safety reasons.

> Sometimes it feels like every innovation of the last 15 years has been a step backwards.

A step backwards, for which party in the exchange?

The past 15 years have seen vastly huge improvements in the ability of user interfaces and such to collect widespread behavioral data that can be mined for prediction products! That you're upset with thus and such change, as noted by your interaction with the device and accelerometer data, is really important for better predicting what will sell to you!

But, yes, the past 15 years have seen a turn of consumer tech against the consumer. Now, the question isn't (shouldn't be?) "What can this thing do for me?" - it's, "What am I giving up by using this thing?"

> Sometimes it feels like every innovation of the last 15 years has been a step backwards.

That's because most of our recent consumer tech "innovations" don't first serve to make users' lives better, but to make shareholders wealthier. Users are an afterthought or acceptable collateral damage.