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Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

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Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#181

Post by kipchak »

vel0city wrote: post #159
uluyol wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe because its burning hot out and people need high AC to cool down. Or the opposite in cold weather. Or to defrost windshield/rear window. Climate control is a great feature. But it's not perfect, and there are instances where you need to manually override. Just because you don't run into them doesn't mean they don't exist. EDIT: BTW on cars with physical controls all of these things are either button press or di…

So here's an example. It's over 100F outside, my car is probably 115F inside it at the moment. Setting my car to 70F inside instead of it's current 72F won't make it cool any faster. Even setting it to it's "LO" setting won't make it cool any faster. The AC compressor is either on or off. The car will set the fan speed to it's best possible speed to cool the car as fast as it can regardless of it being 72 or 70 or 68…

Wouldn't it engage a heavier fan speed if there was a smaller disparity in temperature? For example if it's 75 in the car and I'd like it to be 72 turning the AC down to 70 would engage a heavier fan speed with the downside of increased noise, so practically I would cool down quicker by setting it to 70 and could then adjust back up to 72.

But more practically, if I start catching a lot of sun from the window I might want to go from 72 to 70 to compensate, even if the cabin temperature is more or less the same.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#182

Post by cmrdporcupine »

Dig1t wrote: post #177
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #170

FWIW Ford was hiring around this area (southern Ontario) for software engineers to work on their in-car systems like this. Not sure if this specific one. From what I've heard they were woefully underpaying. A friend of mine talked to them -- very qualified; like me he worked on similar touchscreen, interactive display type systems at Google/Nest, and had a general background on similar systems, and on QNX, etc. They…

I completely agree with your conclusion, this is why I feel that European tech companies can't compete with US ones at all. They just refuse to pay enough to attract the best engineers.

Well here's a North American company clearly not willing to pay competitive software engineering rates even within the continent, and trying to take advantage of sub-regional low rates. Like, they're not in Toronto, but just west of it, and companies there are paying less, so, hey, they should pay less, too, right?

You get what you pay for.

This is what happens when HR drones are allowed to do naive "compensation range surveys" for regions. They do not understand the subtleties of the market and try to lump people with specialized skills, lots of experience, etc. in with people fresh off the boat from overseas, pumping out bug fixes for boring internal legacy J2EE systems at ancient insurance companies.

Companies like this will be in real trouble if remote work continues to be a thing. They better hope it doesn't.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#183

Post by nucleardog »

vel0city wrote: post #138
syzar wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Volvo and Ford Edge use touchscreens to adjust AC and there is no steering wheel control for it.

Changing the AC, even with physical controls, is a distraction from driving. I don't get why anyone drives without it being on auto climate as you're inviting more distractions. If its on auto climate why are you making adjustments while you drive?

What kinds of cars you driving that are making the process that distracting.

I have three giant knobs inches away from my gear lever to control the climate. Climate control status is on a screen just below line of sight to the road.

I'm moving my hand a few inches and generally not even needing to look at anything to get feedback (I can set the fan speed by ear...), and if I do I can do it without taking my eyes off of the road.

I'm controlling the climate control for my comfort, not to hit arbitrary numbers. If I make a quick stop and spend a few minutes out in 110 degree heat, I wanna get in and have ice cold air blasting in my face until I'm comfortable. I don't care if the car is already a chilly 66f inside. If it's -40 outside, I want it to blow heat directly on my feet when I get in until my toes warm up even if the car is already warm. Hell, sometimes if it's too warm in there and my toes are frozen I'll drive around with the heat blasting and a window cracked to keep it comfortable.

I shouldn't need to sacrifice my comfort so the manufacturers can continue building shitty and dangerous UIs for basic vehicle functions.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#184

Post by vel0city »

kortilla wrote: post #147
vel0city wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea with the touchscreen controls is that the driver shouldn't really be using the touchscreen at all while driving except as a quick reference to the map. You're not supposed to be using the screen to adjust your media while driving, there's steering wheel and voice controls. You're not supposed to be adjusting the climate controls while moving, auto climate should just handle it. Why would I want to be distrac…

If you’re distracted by adjusting the temperature you shouldn’t be driving at all.

Taking my hand off the wheel and thinking about making the climate change changes my attention and focus, even if only slightly. It's better to not even have to think about it at all.

As the other commenter said, people who don't even notice when their attention changes probably shouldn't be driving.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#185

Post by rektide »

HWR_14 wrote: post #74
rektide wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there's a vibrant ecosystem around Android with wonderful third party support, with a rich platform & ecosystem already well known & loved by many developers & consumers alike. Where-as QNX is a toolkit for building one-off custom appliances that no third party will ever see or improve or enrich. One is a dead end stuck in a niche, the other realized it had to create more value than it captured. And generally…

Why would I want third party support, a rich platform or an ecosystem? I want a radio and something that plays what my cellphone tells it. That's it.

Because the car company has a talent pool it can hire from & will have an easier time not f-ing it up. Because what you already know about screens is already present & not reinvented totally custom.

You seem to have very select demanding opinions about what is and isnt ok to allow in, and to reject being over well served. From what I can see, neither QNX nor Android nor any carmaker of note (aside from exotics) has your selective anti-needs in their concern. At this point I dont disagree with your desire, but trying to insist on un-soft computing, on only a couple hardset paths is an elite & narrow concern intolerant to broad usability. We should both understand & respect your narrow, peculiar desires, because they tell an important tale, but have deference to more general answers.

And alas, we just see shitty implementations. Slow ones like this article, where Ford seemingly must be running on a 8 bit toaster controller. And just as bad, the very very very little reporting/available information on what data gets sent to whom. Which I feel is probably not so very bad as many jump to assume... but we dont know & there's no benefit of a doubts left remaining, especially given how impossible finding answers is.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#186

Post by megablast »

Dig1t wrote: post #177
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #170

FWIW Ford was hiring around this area (southern Ontario) for software engineers to work on their in-car systems like this. Not sure if this specific one. From what I've heard they were woefully underpaying. A friend of mine talked to them -- very qualified; like me he worked on similar touchscreen, interactive display type systems at Google/Nest, and had a general background on similar systems, and on QNX, etc. They…

I completely agree with your conclusion, this is why I feel that European tech companies can't compete with US ones at all. They just refuse to pay enough to attract the best engineers.

What a strange comment.

Ford is a us tech company.

Most people in Europe don’t want to leave.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#187

Post by nkrisc »

PaulWaldman wrote: post #50
andrewla wrote: post #14

Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one. Absolutely nothing works right and certainly nothing works well. It may or may not be able to connect bluetooth, it may or may not acknowledge a USB device, it may or may not start blaring whatever FM station was last tuned in for no reason on startup, or start playing the first album…

>Mazda is apparently taking the right approach here -- increasing the tactile buttons on the dash and console, and ditching touchscreens. Huh? After using both Ford's (2022 Explorer) and Mazda's (2022 CX-7) infotainment systems recently for several weeks, I couldn't disagree more. Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces were designed for touchscreen control. Mazda forcing the use of a wheel, like a joystick is a safety h…

The truth is you really shouldn’t be doing anything apart from adjusting the A/C while driving. It’s all dangerous to do, whether it’s a touchscreen or buttons. Everyone does it, but nothing will make it safe.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#188

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

bombela wrote: post #163
kortilla wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every car I've owned for over 20 years has been able to keep its climate consistent and comfortable without the need for me to make adjustments for months on end This doesn’t work when sometimes the sun is shining and sometimes it isn’t.

I think this is a very valid point. The car cannot detect that you are receiving sun rays through the windows. Making you feel much hotter than the ambiant air. Sometimes you need to adjust the vent to blow in your face more directly, or set the climate control to cool the air further to offset the inconvenience.

It could detect it quite easily but this is the industry that thought they were doing you a favor putting a CD player in. There are so many awesome things cars could do but they don’t.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#189

Post by cmrdporcupine »

colatkinson wrote: post #176
namecheapTA wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atleast when a Dodge Charger is charging up from behind, I can hear the thing. Pedestrians can hear the thing. When the demographic that currently commits most reckless driving eventually adopts electric cars, it's going to be a blood bath.

Way back when EVs/hybrids were first hitting the market, I remember some chatter about basically adding an external speaker to play fake engine noises. Not perfect, but it might help a bit. I've personally encountered a decent number of Tesla/e-bike drivers who have... nonstandard views on what a stop sign means, and the fact that the vehicles are silent is always a bit disconcerting.

Most EVs do have such a speaker. But it only plays when they're driving at low speeds where they could be a threat to pedestrians, bikes, etc. And also there's no standardization of the noise.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#190

Post by _carbyau_ »

kortilla wrote: post #148
vel0city wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, they drive while holding their phones on speakerphone while talking into it like they're about to take a bite out of a sandwich. Other than volume and next track/station, just about any other media control is going to have my hand off the wheel for a bit and probably require me to look at what its doing even if its all just a bunch of buttons and knobs. Like what, change which folder I'm in? Change to a differe…

> Every car I've owned for over 20 years has been able to keep its climate consistent and comfortable without the need for me to make adjustments for months on end This doesn’t work when sometimes the sun is shining and sometimes it isn’t.

Not sure why downvoted.

For me, this is exactly why I do have to change the "climate control" target.

Last Sunday I spent 9 hours driving through on/off rain and sunshine.

The sun shining in adds significant radiative heat directly to my body. Climate control can keep the air temp constant(convection) but there is more to my personal comfort.

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