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Please make a dumb car

techcrunch.com

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Re: Please make a dumb car

#41

Post by tsujp »

One thing I was flabbergasted at recently was Tesla offering, and the government allowing, regular drivers to use a yoke steering wheel like F1 drivers. Not only is it harder for the average person to handle but their firmware hadn't accounted for the fact that if you steer fully left or right the yoke is upside down and if you try and indicate it ends up indicating on the wrong side.

What is wrong with a wheel and function stalks?

Gimmicks like this, and they are gimmicks, are dangerous and it's concerning no regulator seems to care enough to stop it.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#42

Post by the_gipsy »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #24

I would kill for Ye Olde Manually Wound windows. Electric windows struggle in temperature extremes, and seem to break down far more often than my old hand-cranked windows ever did. Also, I had more precise control with the hand-crank.

Oh no you don't want them

Re: Please make a dumb car

#43

Post by speedgoose »

Dumb cars are on the market. You can buy a brand new Dacia with little options. They sell well.

You can also buy a Caterham if you really want something simple and fun to drive (but unsafe).

Re: Please make a dumb car

#44

Post by tsujp »

the_gipsy wrote: post #42
EdwardDiego wrote: post #24

I would kill for Ye Olde Manually Wound windows. Electric windows struggle in temperature extremes, and seem to break down far more often than my old hand-cranked windows ever did. Also, I had more precise control with the hand-crank.

Oh no you don't want them

I've had cars with electric and manual windows. I'm 27 (so you don't think I have been biased by a lifetime of manual) and I prefer manual crank in all but a single use case: the situation where I want to wind up or down the passenger side window.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#45

Post by suyash »

bobthebuilders wrote: post #21
suyash wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern sports bikes are marching towards the same future - self balancing bikes, fancy dashboards, electric bikes with no motor etc.

How can the bike not have a motor? Or like no motor in the engine sense.

Just like electric cars don’t have a motor, another word for motor is transmission in the common parlance.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#46

Post by zqna »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #24

I would kill for Ye Olde Manually Wound windows. Electric windows struggle in temperature extremes, and seem to break down far more often than my old hand-cranked windows ever did. Also, I had more precise control with the hand-crank.

The saddenning part that the majority of the drivers are very proud and enjoy their electronic windows. I guess potentially manual windows could be an option in the new cars, but I'm afraid the most of the new car buyers prefer as much of gimmicks in their cars, about which they could boast right after their purchase. The adults are really just children with the thicker wallets.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#47

Post by lkozma »

ab_testing wrote: post #10

I think a lot of the smart car features have to do with legislation. All new cars require a back up camera due to legislation. But a backup camera with a huge 8" screen is only useful for backing up. So the manufacturers try to use that screen real estate for infotainment when the car is moving forward.

Who is pushing/lobbying for that type of legislation? Isn't it a case of regulation helping the incumbents?

Re: Please make a dumb car

#48

Post by deadlyllama »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #25
aetherspawn wrote: post #19

I generally didn’t agree with the article. I have found that my Toyota Corolla Hybrid has about the right mix of smart and dumb (in terms of dials and knobs), and again in disagreement to the article .. I love my digital speedo! It’s high up on the dash and closer to the road, compared to my old space-wasting meters that were more difficult to read. And the concern about the GPS in our cars invading our privacy.. thi…

My country's market is dominated by second-hand Japanese imports, a lot of the integrated navigation / entertainment systems are entirely useless if you're not driving in Japan, or can't read Japanese. When my 2005 Mazda MPV suffered a flat battery, the centre console screen which was the navigation / radio / clock / DVD player (yes, really) was bricked, and to this day displays a message in Japanese asking you to pl…

New Zealand?

My Dad's old Subaru Legacy used its display to show Japan rotating around as we turned corners, us always in the sea.

I'm onto my second 2005 Mazda MPV (they're great cars). This time I've replaced the head unit with one of those nasty cheap Android things. Basically a confused tablet with some extra hardware, running any mapping or other app you want.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#49

Post by quartesixte »

tsujp wrote: post #41

One thing I was flabbergasted at recently was Tesla offering, and the government allowing, regular drivers to use a yoke steering wheel like F1 drivers. Not only is it harder for the average person to handle but their firmware hadn't accounted for the fact that if you steer fully left or right the yoke is upside down and if you try and indicate it ends up indicating on the wrong side. What is wrong with a wheel and f…

Elon is weirdly good at getting regulators to just let him do things.

FSD beta. The yoke steering wheel. Like a quarter of everything SpaceX does.

Does he just have really good lobbyists? Is his force of personality just that good? It’s kind of fascinating.

Re: Please make a dumb car

#50

Post by [deleted] »

robin_reala wrote: post #31

The original VW Up dispensed with a screen beyond a small radio display, and just came with a mount for the smartphone you were bound to have with you. Cabin shot: https://cdn1.buyacar.co.uk/sites/buyacar/files/styles/galler...

[deleted]
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