I don’t think it’s so much laziness as it is infatuation with all things tech, both by the buyers and the designers. People (users and designers) rarely take ergonomics (aka, human factors) into account in design because they are chasing the latest and greatest cool gadget.
Interesting tidbit: the Three Mile Island nuclear accident was largely cause by poor human factors design in the control room. So it’s not just confusing controls in automobiles — it happens in industry, too.
Of course part of it is attraction to gadgetry. But I lived it and watched it evolve because I grew up in a towing and repair service. It started with electric windows to eliminate the effort needed to crank windows up and down. And that laziness spread to buttons. Automatic Climate Control was next to come because it was too much work to reach down and turn the heater control up/down or on and off as needed. Then came electric locks, Then auto search radios because tuning with a dial was too much work, then came...
I watched all this come about play by play, and it was all originally born of laziness and convenience. Window Cranks started it all...