I've had a few times around here where it's raining lightly, and then the sky just drops out and I'm in a downpour. Of course, the wipers don't react quickly, which isn't surprising. They didn't react that quickly in my previous car (2013 Ford Taurus) either, but the difference is that my previous car had a stalk control where I could quickly adjust it while keeping my eyes on the road.
I think I heard something about them putting it on the touch screen? Honestly, I don't understand Tesla's obsession with putting everything as a digital control. I know they want to ensure that controls lack static positions, as that makes digital + physical control much more difficult. For example, with a standard wiper stalk control, if you adjusted it on the touch screen, the wheel would need to move to the proper spot. That's why I'd be fine with something like the existing steering wheel scroll wheels... just a big bigger. They should have very defined stops, but all they do is scroll through the settings in the same order as the screen (OFF > 1 > 2 > 3 > AUTO). So, if I'm on AUTO and I need some heavy windshield wiping, I just scroll down one stop.
It's for 3 reasons:
1. Streamlining production & repairs. If everything is built into a screen or touch surface, then that's less stuff to build & less stuff to break down the road. Side note, when my buddy ran a software update on his 3, it bricked his car, and the tow truck driver says he almost exclusively does Tesla pickups & a big majority of them were due to the screen going blank & the car not being fully controllable anymore. So all they have to do is swap out a screen or wiring harness & voila, back in business!
2. OTA patchable software for fixing bugs & adding features, so convenience for the manufacturer.
3. Marketing. It's the car of the future! It's also somewhat ego-driven by Musk imo. Losing sight of the CUE (the "Customer User Experience") goofs things up. There really should be a stalk. The best example of a company getting it right is the Tivo "peanut" remote:
1) It was curved in the middle & easy to hold
2) The most common buttons was right in the middle where your thumb goes.
3) All of the buttons were shaped uniquely & put in smart positions. Like the Channel up & down button was a tall rounded rectangle right where your thumb naturally rests, and the Volume was directly across from it...easy to feel in the dark!
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed using this remote back in the Tivo day...it was SUCH a good design! I feel like Tesla is great but really misses the boat on a lot of things. Like, I'd really like a HUD on it. And a wiper stalk. And a UI redesign, with Apple Carplay. One of the biggest reasons I haven't gotten a Y yet is that I really don't care for the interface all that much. My current ride has Carplay and I LOVE it!