The right touch

Touch input and smarter knobs help drivers control a growing array of functions and devices.

There is one thing that the developers of human-machine interfaces agree on: If someone figures out a way to let the driver control the many tasks facing drivers in this era of connectivity, that person is going to become very rich.

Portable navigations systems, phones, MP3 players, and other devices increase the number of functions drivers already have to handle, creating big headaches for developers who want to reduce driver distraction. Add in the vagaries of human preferences and you have enough challenges to keep engineers busy for years.