The car cabin discourse has, over the past decade, been truly dominated by the discussions of screens versus buttons, the idea that centralising functions in a digital screen streamlines usage compared to proprietary buttons placed around the driver.
But, recently we've seen a comeback for buttons, as some claim big screens are distracting and less satisfying to operate. Mazda seems to believe this is wrong.
Mazda CX-5 Program Manager Koichiro Yamaguchi has told Drive, that their official position is that big screens don't distract from driving. He even claims centralising and digitising through a screen is safer:
"Air conditioning, you can operate with a finger, and if we have to put the physical button, that will be at the lower position. Then the driver has to look down, and [there are] 15 similar looking switches. That means that you rather have to look down and select the correct button—actually, requires the driver [to take eyes] off the road. So rather than that, it's better to have this control on the screen—minimize this change [distraction]."
This is, of course, just an example, and one could argue that muscle memory takes over over time. But what do you think?