We being hardcore car enthusiasts are way too emotional regarding cars but the rest of the people around us aren't. It's a mere mode of transport for them or an asset just bought to show off the world.
Now, With the help of technology, things have become a lot easier and roads have become comparatively safer. See, what I feel is even we auto heads need the support of these technologies some time or the other cause at the end we are all human beings!
No matter how good of a driver you are but when mentally tensed or upset due to a personal reason one is bound to make an error (Especially while parking! At least I am) and am glad at those times for the parking sensors and cameras my cars comes equipped with helping me park the car without much hustle. It further helps me maintain my composure! At times such petty instances does makes you irritated further enraging you.
Moreover, plenty of us have multiple vehicles in our family? Are all your family members into cars like you? No! Is your chauffeur a well trained certified guy who will not make an error while driving? No! Hence, at the end of the day they too need assistance. For e.g (A very common instance that happens with all of us) At a tight parking space, your driver
didn't had the assistance of sensors and camera, the rear pillar is thick. Now, you cannot get down of the vehicle, measure the area and park the vehicle right? He will be dependent on his instincts and guess what they were't correct that day and he ends up hitting the vehicle. At these times, such features are a savior! If he still makes an error, you can catch him and ask how did it happen even when he had assistance.
Features like ABS with EBD and Airbags are necessity now same goes with fancy equipments like Hill assist, Electronic Stability control, traction control etc. We auto heads invest a lot of time in improving our driving skills but there are plenty of people who simply doesn't have the time to do that! They learn the basic driving, get the license and starts driving. Yes, some extra features like lane departure warning, Active cruise control, Intelligent Speed Assist etc. does may make a driver lazy but then the basic purpose for developing such features by manufacturers are to decrease the fatigue while driving improving the overall experience. Now, if the consumer mis-uses such feature and becomes careless and ends up in an accident, one cannot blame the Technology for that! It's a machine afterall!
Regarding features like Service reminder, Tyre Pressure Monitor etc. they too are equally important as not everyone has the time to remember when was the last service done or at what kilometers was it done! Some people have there cars chauffeur driven, how will they get to know if some one doesn't tells them that service is needed? At such instances, these features plays an extremely important role.
Recently, a few months back, A close friend of mine was driving back home from work and the TPMS got activated due to low pressure and instantly she called up being scared. Upon explanation she understood how it functions and now she feels so much secured and confident while driving as she knows if something goes wrong with the tyre, TPMS will warn her.
To sum it up, technology isn't making the drivers dumb. It's simply making some of them lazy and careless but then that doesn't means auto companies should stop developing features because there are plenty of people out there who actually needs it due to various reasons, age being extremely common factor! These days, due to increasing transportation costs, unsafe streets and plenty of other issues in our urban community driving has become a necessity. Hence, often a normal person needs such features, it further boosts there confidence and helps them drive even more safely.
IMHO, to improve the overall driving experience of everybody the following features should be made mandatory in all the cars. (Most of them aren't possible as it will increase the car price by a fair margin but I feel they are needed in our Indian driving condition):-
- Automatic Emergency Braking
- Electronic Stability Control
- Driver Attention Detection
- Front Airbags
- ABS with EBD
- Reversing Sensors
- Traction Control
- Blindspot Warning System
- Head Restraints
- 3 Point Seat belts
P.S - Even I need Parking sensors at times while parking! That doesn't makes me a great or a poor driver. It highly depends on your surrounding. So, please stop judging drivers on the basis of how they park!