>I have to admit though I'm surprised that some of those accessories even require a bus as they're typically operated by simple switches.
They certainly don't require a bus in principle. However, if you want to understand both the business case and some very good engineering reasoning behind the use of data buses to control simple automobile accessories you should have a look at the wiring harness for an early 90's Mercedes or similar luxury car. Demand for fancy features drove the number of wires running to and fro to an unmanageable level. Having a mile of wires in a car is expensive for many reasons I'm sure you can imagine, as well as each connection point becoming an opportunity for something to go wrong.
I'm also curious how electric cars in general will manage safety systems going forward, especially in light of this Toyota court decision.
They certainly don't require a bus in principle. However, if you want to understand both the business case and some very good engineering reasoning behind the use of data buses to control simple automobile accessories you should have a look at the wiring harness for an early 90's Mercedes or similar luxury car. Demand for fancy features drove the number of wires running to and fro to an unmanageable level. Having a mile of wires in a car is expensive for many reasons I'm sure you can imagine, as well as each connection point becoming an opportunity for something to go wrong.
I'm also curious how electric cars in general will manage safety systems going forward, especially in light of this Toyota court decision.