Hurry up with the self-driving cars already!

I occasionally get to drive rental cars because of work, which means I often drive different makes of car. I never get my hands on any luxury vehicles, though – none of that bourgeousie nonsense for me, oh no.

Usually they're mini cars like a Fiat 500 or small compacts like a Vauxhall Corsa i.e. cheap and chearful 'runabouts'. Even though they are cheap, they usually come with basic – but in my opinion vital – features like DAB radio, a USB connection, power steering, parking sensors and cruise control.

One thing, I've noticed, however, is that these cars can be really distracting – which is pretty dangerous.
 
I guess this applies mainly to rental cars, but when you first step inside a new car you have to familiarise yourself with all the different controls. Granted, the basic stuff – gear stick, wipers, indicators etc. – are usually pretty much the same whatever you end up driving. But when it comes to things like the climate controls or stereo system they're all completely different.

This is really annoying because you have to re-learn how to do something as simple as changing a radio station (because you do it in your own car all the time, it's second nature). Even if you spend some time getting to know your car's controls before setting off (something I often don't really have the luxury of having), it still means prodding a screen or twiddling knobs until you get used to them.

And that's the dangerous thing – you shouldn't be looking at a screen or down at the fan knob, you should be looking at the road. In that split second when you're trying to figure out where the DAB radio settings are, or trying to stop a gale force wind blasting your face, you could miss someone walking out into the street.

What's worse is that these controls are rarely intuitive. Entertainment systems often employ a UI that may look funky but is badly thought-through in terms of logic or clarity. I've even spent time stabbing the plastic rectangle in front of me, assuming it was touch screen when it actually wasn't.

The gear stick is relatively universal. There's little variation from car to car and most people don't have to consult an instruction manual to use it. Why can't entertainment systems be standardised in a similar way?

This dashboard from a Vauxhall Adam I drove recently is a great example of bad design. The touchscreen is quite low to start with, so if you need to look at the sat nav your eyes have to look right down away from the road. Worse still, the vent and air con controls are tucked away at the bottom with the gear stick in the way. Plus, the symbols for the knobs are too small. It looks nice, but you're gonna have a bad time interacting with it.

Apple's CarPlay is sort of a step in the right direction but not everyone has an Apple phone (they could use Google's rival option instead of course, if they're on Android, which I've not tried), or – shock, horror! – they might not have their phones on them when driving.

CarPlay does have big app buttons and it's Siri-enabled, but it's still like having a bigger version of your phone on the dashboard. Again, a seriously bad distraction especially when text messages or Whatsapp messages appear onscreen.

Yes, I admit you should have certain settings turned on so you don't receive messages while driving – but I think maybe these should be active right from the start rather than us having to remember to implement them.

With all of these distractions, I can't help thinking we need self-driving cars as soon as possible. At least that means we can be distracted with music, text messages, videos and phone calls without careering into a lampost or a bus stop full of people.