I'm mixed on touch screen vs physical controls happening. A Tesla has physical controls for shifting, turning, cruise control, current media and I guess you can include accelerate and brake. That said, I want all cars to be the same. I want them to have Android Audio, Apple CarPlay. I do not want custom apps in each car. I just want to connect my phone in and have it do all the things unrelated to operating the car itself.
So at least in some ways, I want them more the same, not less. I live in an area where Waymo is common so I see self driving cars all the time. In other words, unlike people not in an area like this, I have actual experience with them working and working well. As soon as they are available for purchase I will buy one. Ideally one with no controls. No steering wheel, no accelerator, no brake peddle, no turn signal. At which point, I suspect, like phones, they may get even more alike. All that stuff is un-needed in a level 5 self-driving car
I'm sure someone is going to respond such stuff will be needed for emergencies or whatever. I think that middle stage will only last 5-10 years and then they'll take out the manual controls. They took out manual controls from elevators 70 years ago. They're taking out almost all controls now. IIRC Toyota already has such vehicles. I know Honda showed of designs years ago. They're a platform that carries a box. The box can be a cargo box, a food truck box, a 12 person passenger box, more comfy 6 person box. No driver's seat.
Elevators still have manual controls, if you open a secret panel with a key, and turn another key to change the operating mode. See Deviant Ollam's talks.
You change gears on Teslas by swiping on the screens.
God, I have no idea if you're kidding or not.
Having driven the Model 3 my dad got as his retired old man car, this is not true. There's a "Drive/Neutral/Reverse" lever on the steering column. It doesn't have a transmission. That's the great part about electric motors. The power is always right there. It's never in the wrong gear.