Anecdotally I have a "normal" car with hardware buttons and still look down to adjust the AC/heat etc. because there are many, many controls. My car also has a touch screen that controls the stereo and navigation - many other cars have this same setup. I don't see this as an issue worthy of concern, over say cell phone use while driving.

Dumb question maybe (excuse me for not searching this out) but does Tesla have voice control? Seems like an obvious way to tackle this problem.

"Tesla turn my heat up" "Tesla tune to SiriusXM channel 100" etc.