Too many vehicle manufacturers removed buttons to copy Tesla without thinking about why Tesla did it in the first place. Tesla removed those buttons because they were aiming for a low-cost driverless future with full self driving and automatic updates that change the feel of the car. If you put those features in a VW that doesn't regularly update and doesn't have consumer self driving program (at least yet) it doesn't really make sense.
The first version of autopilot that did anything that could charitably be called navigation wasn't introduced for another 8 years after this car and actual self-driving remains a distant goal 17 years later.
As far as I remember, Tesla has been talking about full self driving and auto-updates since before 2009, and although cameras weren't placed on the car until years later I would argue these early models were low enough production they were selling the idea more than the product (like how a sports car might be stylized after a jet, even though it doesn't contain a jet engine, but just to capture the feeling of something that's fast). It's also worth noting that car had a lot more buttons, including PRNDL, stock, and I believe AC/heater.
Also my Tesla drives me to work every day just fine without intervention. I don't think you need unsupervised full self driving for the screen to make sense, and while I didn't have a Tesla 11 years ago I think the vision was clear and a screen with minimal/no buttons was still useful. My point is just that if you're trying to make a so-called driver's car, without regular updates or meaningful self driving capabilities, it makes sense to add buttons so people know where things are while driving. The screen was a logical derivation from the other features tesla was building and incorporating, starting with the screen because it's easy is a mistake by companies like VW/benz/etc in my opinion.
I have a personal project organizing who was talking about AVs when, so I would genuinely like a source for Tesla talking about self driving before 2009 if you have one. The earliest Tesla discussion I'm aware of is autopilot, which was announced in 2013 in an off-the-cuff interview comment. Dedicated hiring and talks with mobileye began in late 2013/early 2014. That effort later evolved into "enhanced autopilot" several years later after the two companies fell out, which is where I drew the line for "navigation".
I can't imagine a date significantly earlier than 2009. Musk himself only became CEO in 2008, and 2007 was the second grand challenge.
Also my Tesla drives me to work every day just fine without intervention.
Strictly and pedantically speaking, you're still driving. There's a whole complicated terminology discussion there. To shortcut that, the definition of driver I recommend is "whoever has ultimate responsibility for avoiding accidents". Hence yet to deliver self-driving.
I understand I'm legally driving but the broad point here is whether a screen is enough or if I should have buttons. The way I interact with the car is screen oriented, and the car is sufficiently autonomous that I don't need to rely on a button which never moves. I enter an address on my phone, get in my car, push the brake, and it drives me somewhere.
Similarly I don't know the exact date Tesla started talking about FSD/Autopilot, but they've certainly been talking about it for as long as I've been aware of the brand.
Obviously the 2009 prototype has buttons and as I've already mentioned it doesn't have cameras, but the point stands. Tesla has oriented the features and experience in a way where just having a screen makes a lot of sense. VW just added a screen and hasn't made moves to back it up with other features or with similarly involved regular updates. I think it makes sense for Tesla to continue building cars with just a screen, whereas if VW won't take advantage of the screen they should add buttons back, at least in my opinion.
