Slightly confusing since it's not the removal of the entire infotainment system, just the capacitive controller. The system is still controllable with the joydial. Seems like that's not really a $500 cost center, more of a way to appease the customer.
And some makers like Mazda pulled the captouch off their IVI with the recent generation of cars pre-COVID, it just wasn't worth the cost.
For Mazda it was also at least theoretically to reduce driver distraction and increase safety. I mostly believe them on that point, given how much they focus on safety ratings in other ways.
Some of them were also mounted pretty far from the driver so they weren't easy to reach, and they had a dial to alternatively interact with them. The first few times I drove one, I didn't even know it was a touch screen.
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/11/05/bmws-losing-touchscreen-...
Slightly confusing since it's not the removal of the entire infotainment system, just the capacitive controller. The system is still controllable with the joydial. Seems like that's not really a $500 cost center, more of a way to appease the customer.
And some makers like Mazda pulled the captouch off their IVI with the recent generation of cars pre-COVID, it just wasn't worth the cost.