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There’s a whole lot of defensive justification in that BMW press release about how customers are now used to touch screens, etc. IMHO, touch screens in a car are far, far from ideal. You have to look closely at the screen to do anything, and you get no tactile feedback. Taking your eyes off the road is the opposite of good design. And, in a vehicle, you have substantial movement and g-forces which make precise use of a touch screen that much more difficult.
The real reason for this change is cost, plain and simple. Elimination of the iDrive controller just compounds this whole problem, with cost (again) the main driver. I predict that this will eventually be seen as an enormous mistake. Lawsuits and/or customer dissatisfaction will force a reconsideration of the cost/ benefit balance.
I’m certain BMW engineers recognize all this, and there was a huge fight with management about these decisions. A shame, really.
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