Is the difference here is there is already long running expectations? The iPhone was charting a brand new course across undiscovered seas, how trucks drivers interact with their vehicle is an experience with literally generations of data.
Keyboards go back a long way, and the iPhone was widely panned as "not a professional device" because "how could you type email on it?" After all, we all had experience with just how bad on-screen keyboards were. It was so bleeding obvious that Steve was an idiot.
But then people actually used iPhones. While not as good as a physical keyboard, Apple's soft keyboard was vastly better than anyone anticipated. So good, in fact, that everyone basically forgot about physical keyboards and started typing their email on iPhones.
A big part of it was two things:
1. Apple put an actually-good LCD in the iPhone (Apple's LCDs get brighter and dimmer than the competition)
2. Apple used a capacitive touchscreen (that didn't suck).
I think the key thing is "is Tesla going to install good or shitty screens?" My guess is good screens--so I kind of laughed when the trucker complained about Mercedes touchscreens being too bright at night. Just like Apple's good screen enabled things you couldn't have before in a phone, I think Tesla's will too.
They can show blind spot cameras, for example. That may mitigate most or all of the impact of the center driver position on visibility. The same cameras can potentially show a better view than the mirrors (who cares if they're hard to clean when you only have them installed for legal compliance). So the giant screens enable Tesla to offer a Semi with vastly better aero than the competition.
The problem isn't just the quality or sensitivity of the displays (though that could also be a problem). The problem is that any interface designed for drivers that requires you to stare at the interface and not the road is a bad idea. Any control that you are likely to operate while the vehicle is in motion needs to be something you can find by touch alone. A fixed, physical button.
That's how it looks with the benefit of hindsight.
In 2007, there were plenty of people who thought the iPhone wasn't charting a brand new course across undiscovered seas. They thought it was an expensive, overly engineered toy. They thought the smartphone market of Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices was already mature.
They repeated exactly the same mistake early EV cars did, Prius, i3, Leaf, all ugly, quirky or just impractical for completely unrelated reasons to being an EV. Trying to reimagine what a car is, instead of just taking a good old proven chassis and slamming an electric drivetrain inside.
Yes, there are enablers and constraints in EV platforms you both need to and should make use of, like more floor space, frunk, aero. Tesla finding the right things to change out of that pool is what made them successful. Today most other manufacturers have come to their senses and we today have great selection of good and non funky EVs on the market. This semi on the other hand is the i3 of trucks, judging by the Twitter thread.
