Keep in mind, that new cars aren't bad simply because of all this new tech, but rather how this tech is exposed to the user. HCI seems to have disappeared by the wayside as we create more and more complicated systems.

Yet it is possible to apply good interaction design to complex systems. Taking the example from the car itself -- the engine and transmission is a very complicated system, yet it's exposed to the user through simple and learnable controls like steering wheel, the gear shift, and the pedals.

In these examples it's painfully obvious that human-machine interaction and user experience design was either an afterthought, or developed by people who are simply not qualified to actually design interactive systems altogether.