Technology in Luxury Cars: Past, Present and Future

An excellent post from the Verge forums:

The driver has buttons on his left, on the entire center console, on the dashboard, on the instrument cluster and above him by the mirror. This poses two main problems. First, and most obvious, is how can a driver possibly be expected to know what all of these buttons do and to use them while trying to drive a car? Second, and more important for this article, since when were hundreds of buttons everywhere considered luxurious?