The problem you're describing (Auto AC) isn't that automatic ac doesn't work, but that it's working within a small, very confined space and those differences in temperature are felt immediately.
From a personal perspective, I'd rather set it and forget it. It's why when I rarely use the car AC, one button is all it takes and it adjusts to something between 70 and 73, which is about the same it would be at home. When it's cold, you know the heater will be turning on automatically and I don't have to worry about waiting for the car to warm up for heat to work - the auto AC knows when it's hot enough and blasts it full strength at the right time, instead of me having to fiddle with manual controls to get the right timing, for example. Ditto for hot weather - blasts cool air with the push of a button.
The beauty is that you can have both, and knobs and auto AC aren't mutually exclusive, although that's gonna be up to the manufacturer and their market research.
You don't find it annoying having to override the 'intelligent' system?
With manual control, I can immediately start or stop hot and cold air; with a climate system, I can merely propose some higher or lower temperature, and the system may or may not do what I want it to do. I temporarily drove a Buick that had such a system, and found myself constantly having to override what the 'intelligent' system thought I wanted.
I prefer manual control. If the vehicle is too cool, I can immediately halt the blower without having to change the desired temperature with the assumption that the 'intelligent' system will halt the blower for me.
I've come to the realization that many things are just better not being made 'intelligent', especially when it comes to cars.
I actually wonder about the efficiency of these automatic systems.
These automatic systems are trying to, what, make the whole cabin achieve some set temperature? Who cares about the average cabin temperature? The airconditioner is pointed right at me. I care about the temperature of the air coming out of the vents and flowing over me. Assuming the back seat isn't populated, there's a whole volume of air back there being unnecessarily cooled..
I don't find it annoying particularly, but that's probably because a single tactile button push in my old 2004 Chrysler changes the HVAC settings from auto to manual. Still prefer the set it and forget it thermostat, however. Having both options is best, which is precisely what the article was about, and we're not in disagreement here, to be clear. Was merely discussing the merits of climate controlled hvac.
You’re describing a good auto A/C. The bad kind controls the average air temperature but has no concept of radiation, resulting in the driver being way too hot when it’s a cold sunny day and the sun is coming from the front left. The thermostat thinks the average temperature is fine, runs the A/C blower on low, and fails t cool the driver.
Considering I'm describing personal experience in a rather old American automobile that I still own and drive daily, it's probable that I'm describing the bad kind.
HVAC's job is not to deal with radiation and sunray angles, nor to adjust for it, IMO. To that end, it's superb engineering.
I had a 1991 car that I consider "good". I'm not sure exactly what its secret was, possibly just generally high fan speed, but it worked fine. In my book, a good HVAC's job is that, if I set the thermostat to a temperature I find comfortable, it should make me comfortable without much further fiddling.
My Tesla fails on this front. To fine tune it (which is quite necessary), I need to go through a layer of menus on the laggy touch screen and figure out which control I need to mess with to stay comfortable. This is dangerous.
From a personal perspective, I'd rather set it and forget it. It's why when I rarely use the car AC, one button is all it takes and it adjusts to something between 70 and 73, which is about the same it would be at home. When it's cold, you know the heater will be turning on automatically and I don't have to worry about waiting for the car to warm up for heat to work - the auto AC knows when it's hot enough and blasts it full strength at the right time, instead of me having to fiddle with manual controls to get the right timing, for example. Ditto for hot weather - blasts cool air with the push of a button.
The beauty is that you can have both, and knobs and auto AC aren't mutually exclusive, although that's gonna be up to the manufacturer and their market research.