The point of the thread, however, is most drivers not understanding what all those lights mean.
ok to clarify, the mini has multiple displays which repeat warning info in several places so you can't miss the errors and most warnings tell you the problem in plain english so very few actual warning lights.
so behind the steering wheel, small rev gauge which is easy to see and not easily obscured by the steering wheel, very few warning lights and two LCD screens that self configure, one of them always displays the vehicle speed when in motion, in the bottom display in the pic you'll see a little warning triangle to tell you there is a warning which is currently being displayed on the main screen.
the centre display screen
again very few actual warning lights and for the most part everything is repeated on screen in plain text, most things can be checked and monitored through the various menu screens, huge speedo just incase the one behind the wheel isn't enough, fuel gauge etc
basically you don't need to know exactly what the lights mean because its all in plain text as well on one of the screens and if you don't know you can easily find out through the menus
And could you clarify "as it stands there are so many phone and tablet combinations that it would be difficult to ensure compatibility with every handset".
So what i mean by this is, if i have a brand new car and a new phone at some point in the future that car will get older and people will be using newer phones. so a 10 year old car will not necessarily be compatible with the older car, iPhones/iPads don't support huge amounts of bluetooth services to avoid hacking, android phones support more but are more vulnerable to aps which could compromise the phone and then the safety of the car.
point being many companies have proven that cars are not secure enough to hacks and attacks and shown via OBD ports and even through codes hidden in Music CD's the on board systems can be hacked and manipulated braking just one wheel for instance by the ABS system or completely immobilizing the car etc
there are also still plenty of people who don't use smart phones or tablets and replacing the various screens etc with a phone or tablet is obviously dependent on all people having access to the technology (you suggested something about using tablets in stead of the current method of displaying info) which goes back to what happens if years down the road the tablet fails or is broken but is old technology difficult expensive to replace increased security risk of a removable device. devices change size and shape from one generation to the next which means mounting problems as tablets are updated, also the need to lock out functions while driving can't really have people playing angry birds at 70mph, this is something you can't currently do
Also, why would a car need to pull info off a phone/access the internet?
the car uses the phone as it's internet connection so facebook data is pulled from the facebook app, twitter from the twitter app etc that way the car doesn't need to store the log in details for the various apps the phone keeps everything secure, also means if you plug your phone it it will access your info from your phone without needing to enter loads of log in info
so as an example through mini connected i can go into the in car twitter app which logs in via the phone's stored log in info. see what other people are posting to twitter and then select to post a tweet, most of which are predefined bits of info that take info from the cars systems such as "its 23degrees C and i'm driving in my mini" or "driving in my mini and we have 3.2 gallons of fuel left"
with the sat nav system installed in the car (which i've not got) you can google some where like lego land windsor (for example) then when you plug the phone in there is an in car app which lets you sync that info to the sat nav and put directions to what you've googled on to the car's sat nav.
all of the above is done by cable connection so the phone is always on charge while in the car. this also ensures that there is a permanent connection.
the bluetooth is used only for voice calls and syncing contact/calender info as you would with your home computer, (non essential stuff) and most phone features are then posted to the big display screen so you don't have to worry about mounting your phone (although you can get an arm rest phone dock)
The point I was making is that this seems to be the way in car systems are going using smart phones already in the mini BMW and Rolls Royce, the Fiat 500L has also got a big touch screen system which interacts with more than just your MP3 player I think all future fiats are going to this kind of technology.
More simple information displays to feed back info, on more advanced in car systems which are more integrated within the car and can access extra functions and features available via smart phones
I can't see tablets or smart phones actually replacing the in care dash
