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Comment by herewego | Hacker News Reader

I think you are making false assumptions. One can not drive any car without using the vehicle interface on an almost constant basis, including the Tesla. Since the Tesla only has a touchscreen for interfacing with the vast majority of the vehicle's functions, you are therefore using it constantly - that is my argument. But maybe you use cars differently than myself and those I've surveyed, e.g. music browsing, imperfect automated climate control settings, navigation, insane/ludicrous mode, apps, etc.

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> the Tesla only has a touchscreen for interfacing with the vast majority of the vehicle's functions

False. There are voice controls, buttons on the steering wheel, the steering wheel itself, pedals, pedestals (for turn signals like other cars), etc. Even autopilot's functionality doesn't require the screen (or touching it).

> music browsing, imperfect automated climate control settings, navigation, insane/ludicrous mode, apps, etc.

None of these things are required to drive the car, and music browsing is controlled by knobs on the steering wheel.

Respectfully there's no way to respond meaningfully when these statements are made in bad faith. You can't walk back your initial claim to "many non-critical non-driving features require using the touchscreen."

First, you are quoting something that I did not say. Second, I disagree that the items I listed are all a good experience using the mechanisms you highlighted and aren’t an important part of the driving experience; they are indeed “critical” (quoting your mis-quote) to the UX that leads to the choice of vehicle for myself and many others. It is disingenuous to reduce the argument down to basic controls required for vehicle movement and I think you know that.

The last thing I’ll say is this: I think it’s unfortunate that you are so invested in defending your position at all costs that you are unable to separate the argument from passive-aggressive personal attacks.

> You can not drive a Tesla without using the touchscreen on an almost constant basis.

There's your quote, verbatim, and it's false. If you don't want to get called out for verifiably false statements, I'd avoid making them in the future.

> The last thing I’ll say is this: I think it’s unfortunate that you are so invested in defending your position at all costs that you are unable to separate the argument from passive-aggressive personal attacks.

Responding to factual inaccuracies is hardly "defending a position at all costs," but I'm sorry if it got you worked up.

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