While I get that I also think it's a bit odd because how much has actually changed about the basic required set of buttons needed to operate a vehicle in the last 20 years? Most of the differences I see are down to trim levels and companies already had the solution to that with panels that weren't on the main cluster of dash controls. My low trim Golf has a couple obvious panels near the shifter where different optional things would live; seat heaters etc.

I guess, that only new things are: 1) driving assist things 2) drive mode select (sport, comfy, etc) 3) and HUD change (trip a, trip b, etc) 4) voice command button 5) regen braking control (EV only)

1 may be one the same button as cruese control

2, 5 may be on shifter knob panel

3 and 4 are the only new buttons on steering wheel

1 is all over the place depending on what your car has; my wife's car has lane keeping and blind spot monitors and those live in a knockout panel down and left of the steering wheel.

2 I've usually found in the buttons near the shifter

3 I'm not sure what you're referring to? If it's the little screen generally between the speed and battery/rpm display those controls are usually on the steering wheel in my experience.

4 Steering wheel, in every car I've seen it in and that's often standard across the models

5 This one I've only had one experience with and that's my wife's Kia Niro EV and those are on what would be shifter paddles in a car with a gear box.

The number of buttons on steering wheels between my decade old gas Golf and my wife's few year old Niro EV are shockingly similar though presented and arranged differently. Both have 4 buttons and two directional pairs (audio control for skipping on one, volume on the other, cruise control speed on another and one dimension of the hud paging on the last) though the Niro has the pairs as rocker switches that can click for one extra button I suppose.

Also you can use the same touchscreen for different vehicles and the manufacturing of that is always the same or if there is variation it is over smaller numbers of parameters: maybe a bigger or a brighter touchscreen.

I think of an initiative GM had, I think circa 2000, to standardize branding across all their vehicles and notably use the same buttons from the bottom of the line compacts up to flagships like the HUMMER, Cadillac, and the GMC Suburban. Sensitized by media coverage whenever I looked at these buttons sitting in a GM car or looking through the windows I felt that it diluted the higher end brands.

You could integrate the buttons into the touch screen controller. They don't need to connect to physical relays in the device to activate functionality, they can be every bit as "soft" as the touch screen itself, but actually provide haptic feedback on use.

Couple of issues with that. One is that good haptic UI is difficult and auto OEMs are not "technically capable", to put it mildly. Also, some did. GM experimented with a haptic feedback touchscreen called "CUE" in the Cadillac brand about a decade ago. It was a disaster. The feel was terrible, customers hated using it, and the screens became extremely fragile. VW phased their own attempts out after some nasty unintended acceleration lawsuits.

Automotive hardware is extremely difficult to get right. Buttons are a solved problem. Touchscreens are getting there. Everything else is a gamble in an area where failures have huge risks. OEMs don't like those. We'll probably continue seeing haptic feedback on things like wheels and shifters, but haptic touchscreens seem to be on the way out these days.

All it takes is standardizing the connector between the dashboard controls and the actuator/sensor network to decouple the dashboard design from the car electronics. I don't see how a touchscreen would be essential to achieve that?

That's one of the ways in which it is cheaper, yes. The touchscreen choice was made rationally, we just disagree on our priors ;-)