LISTEN: EV Maker Exec Calls In-Car Buttons a 'Bug, Not a Feature'

Many automakers have been shifting toward touchscreens embedded in their vehicles’ dashboards and away from dedicated physical buttons. While it may enable more potential features, it could also make driving less safe and possibly more annoying. But one company makes it sound like touchscreens are here to stay, at least until the industry moves onto the new thing.Wassym Bensaid, chief software officer at EV maker Rivian, spoke this week at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 and addressed in-vehicle buttons, calling them an “anomaly.”“It’s a bug. It’s not a feature,” he told the crowd. “Ideally, you would want to interact with your car through voice. The problem today is that most voice assistants are just broken.”