I don't think that's entirely true. Look at temperature settings for example, it's all software whether you turn the knob or press virtual buttons on the screen. Same result, and they work together. If Ford came out with some new way to change temp automatically based on time of day or whatever, and pushed it out via firmware upgrade, it would not matter if you had a dial or just a screen. Granted, you may not the screen to control the new feature, but that's not a reason to remove the dial
When i was referencing flexibile and upgradeable I was thinking factual statements not value of change to user:
flexible- can move climate controls all over the screen depending on current vehicle state and use case. OR if by some software change the function of the climate changes significantly it can be redisplayed. OR even if fords UX folks think about a better way to display a button or process they can do it
upgradeable- if Ford can enable 10 settings of heated seats vs 3 via software its changeable vs a hard button with 3 lights
Algo controls - my wife has a new gen x7 that we just got with the big screen no hard button interior, full auto climate control no longer is just setting a preferred interior temperature, you also set preferences for if you like more or less heated seats, more or less heated steering wheel (multiple settings within each bucket) the car then uses inside temp, outside temp, a sunlight sensor, current run time, your interior temp setting, where the car is in the climatization process, and user desired intensity of each of those items to determine the specific settings at the moment to create an overall experience (we have only had it for a couple days so no feedback yet on how well it works) but that is what i meant. hard buttons are an on/off, pick this or that user exp.
again "better" is most definitely a personal preference. if we want to use manual controls for everything there is an extra step or two which would be very annyoing