This is so obvious it goes without saying, so I'm just going to have to say it, just because...
Every physical knob, switch, vent control, analog gauge, gear shift, yadda, yadda, yadda in a car cannot be modified. It does what it does. Sure, you can put some software behind it, but it is still a physical mechanism that cannot be changed. As the years go by, customer preference for what a car interior should "look like", and how it all "should work", will change. What seems futuristic now (ohhh, look at all the Buttons!, this is the BOMB), will tomorrow be hopelessly outdated. That, and everyone has different preferences.
Tesla is designing the Model 3 interior to be as "future proof" as possible. How? By making everything that can be software controlled, software controlled. Whatever function(s) can be controlled by the touch screen can be modified as nauseum over time as required. Thats what Tesla does, for better or worse. It seems highly probably that at some point the display will allow for a great degree of individual flexibility. Want your energy graph on the left, and the map on the right? Just move them around, the car will remember them. Want audio turn by turn directions when you get within 5 miles of your destination? Set it and forget it. Spouse wants different settings? Yup, everyone gets their own, saved in profiles. Gotta have a "button" to push to tune in your favorite radio station? Yup, Tesla will give you all the (software) buttons you want to push, even fill the screen with them if it makes you feel better.
It's all just software. It can do whatever you want it to do.
RT
P.S. See John Dvorak's post mentioned earlier about how the Apple i-Phone would bankrupt the company (circa 2007). He not only got it wrong, he couldn't have been more wrong, and he was the THE expert! Hopefully he didn't bet the farm shorting Apple stock. Some people are more comfortable with disrupting technology, others less so. There is a reason why Tesla is the most valuable American automobile manufacturer.
Don't be John Dvorak...
"Maybe when the smoke clears, we will have heard the last of Steve Jobs as guru, seer, visionary and hapless victim too ... He'll go the way of pet rock, electric carving knives, silly putty, Tiny Tim, and the three-tone paint job. Let's hope so."
"If [Apple's] smart, it will call the iPhone a 'reference design' and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures. [... ] It should do that immediately before it's too late."
