Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS • Hacker News Board

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#201

Post by ra7 » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:40 AM UTC

antipaul wrote: post #196

ra7 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given CarPlay history, either very few OEMs will actually adopt this or it's going to take a long time for your favorite car to get it. Sadly, no one wants to give up control to Apple and Google.

“Apple says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in late 2023, with committed automakers including Acura, Audi, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Volvo, and others”

They had similar statements when CarPlay was first announced. It took years for OEMs to support it. Maybe it will be different this time.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#202

Post by jaas » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:47 AM UTC

So they're 2-4 years away from a big announcement that they're becoming more efficient and maximizing shareholder value by not developing their own OS any more and instead they're "collaborating" with Google and shipping Android Auto. I bet chatgpt could write that future press release right now and get pretty close.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#203

Post by oxyboy » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:48 AM UTC

werdnapk wrote: post #174

whiplash451 wrote: post #20

Lots of negative comments in this thread, which I can understand. But let’s be fair, for a car manufacturer, carplay is the kiss of death.

Android Automotive is now the native OS for new Volvo and Polestar vehicles. A far better option than anything custom from the manufacturer.

Weirdly enough I never had issues with my previous generation Volvo that used their proprietary OS (circa 2020) compared with the Android Auto built-in my latest Volvo (2023). I've noticed that my backup camera app can be slow to load almost sometimes failing to load or even loading and then crashing when you shift into reverse gear. I don't know if this is Android to be blamed or some flaky code by Volvo but makes me nervous nonetheless. On the plus side when everything works smoothly, its great to be able to load a wider library of Android auto apps compared with the measly selection of apps Volvo provided previously.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#204

Post by qrohlf » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:49 AM UTC

levymetal wrote: post #133

qrohlf wrote: post #5

I was recently an owner of a Merced-Benz commercial van, and the software was by far the worst part of that whole experience. It had obvious race-condition type bugs when it came to the user interface layer, but most frustrating was its tendency to succumb to some kind of memory leak on long drives where the entire head unit would just lock up and crash to a black screen after 6-7 hours of being turned on. Because th…

The other thing that worries me is how integrated modern headunits are. It used to be that when your headunit broke or became obsolete, you could just whack a new one in for a few hundred dollars, prolonging the life of your vehicle. Now even basic cars have fully integrated headunits making upgrades impossible. Even if the headunit continues to function, the technology is going to become so obsolete that they’ll be…

Yep, exactly. My personal vehicle is a 2000 model year Toyota. It has an incredibly good, stable, and modern CarPlay head unit from Sony, because back whin the car was made we had standards like double-DIN head units and you could just plop in a new stereo. Which is exactly what I did, and now I have a "golden age" mechanically reliable, nigh-un-killable Toyota with a modern carplay head unit.

And as a bonus, I can adjust everything about the car (climate control, volume, overdrive, 4wd, ECT mode, etc) with real buttons and tactile feedback while going down a washboard track, without ever having to take my eyes off the road.

If anyone out there starts making EVs with the same bare-bones attitude (analog knobs and dials, no flashy infotainment system, double-DIN head unit slot, modern safety features and a simple ultra-reliable EV powertrain), sign me up. It'll probably never happen because there's not really an economic incentive right now to try to hit lower price-points in the EV market, everyone's going upmarket. But I'd still love to see somebody try.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#205

Post by eande » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:53 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #197

Is Mercedes actually building an entire OS, or does this really have something off the shelf underneath?

All major car OEM are challenged with a cohesive software development and integration. There are so many different units of ECU/ICI/ADAS/TCU/ABS/etc (and list goes on) and mostly all of them are interconnected, partial OTA, etc. Tesla having started software first and with their central ECU approach has a leading edge.

Mercedes with their MB.os, VW with their Cariad, Toyota with their Arene and each major automotive OWM is coming up with their own overarching OS platform shifting to software and mobility first.

Underneath is often a safety certifiable OS like QNX, combined with AutoSAR or Linux for less safety critical OS. So generally as far as I can tell most car OEM do not start from scratch and they have to work with the leading silicon supplier as well on all the OS driver support. You also have to consider full functional safety compliance across the globe, many teams/languages/etc. It truly is not that easy to orchestrate that all.

On top like someone commented here, many OEM are very hierarchical structured and creating software development across these different functional units/devisions is a challenge for most automotive companies are really struggling with.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#206

Post by csomar » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:56 AM UTC

ht85 wrote: post #117

layer8 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it works consistently, it would sure be a major selling point. ;)

Wouldn't someone giving you their number based on the car you drive be a giant red flag?

People driving a "coup" are also a red flag. So I guess it's red-flagged people meeting one another.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#207

Post by Dig1t » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 2:57 AM UTC

mempko wrote: post #28

mackman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be surprised if this isn’t just another Android fork.

It's not from what I read. MBUX, the UI is built using Qt.

Exactly like Tesla.

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#208

Post by denysvitali » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 3:04 AM UTC

_hcuq wrote: post #36

Ok... What car brand has the least bad UI these days? I have been putting off getting a new car for about a year.

Tesla, I think

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#209

Post by sollewitt » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 3:06 AM UTC

am44jnsf wrote: post #150

cameronh90 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I feel like German cars have an undeserved reputation for quality. German cars are superficially well built, quite fast, and make satisfying thunks when you close the doors. However, they are fairly unreliable, sensitive, and when they do fail, cost a lot to repair. I'll take a Japanese car any day, however, Hyundai, Volvo, Skoda, Kia, Peugeot and Ford are also better engineered than most German cars nowada…

Skodas are just previous gen Volkswagens btw

I understood Skodas are usually _next_ gen Volkswagens. At least when I lived in Europe they always got the new chassis/engine/gearbox to beta before it rolled out to VW, did that change?

Re: Mercedes-Benz previews its operating system MB.OS

#210

Post by gmueckl » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 3:08 AM UTC

coffeebeqn wrote: post #10

qrohlf wrote: post #5

I was recently an owner of a Merced-Benz commercial van, and the software was by far the worst part of that whole experience. It had obvious race-condition type bugs when it came to the user interface layer, but most frustrating was its tendency to succumb to some kind of memory leak on long drives where the entire head unit would just lock up and crash to a black screen after 6-7 hours of being turned on. Because th…

I’m also horrified by the trend to put more and more of the meters into the UI. My Ford has done the booting thing before on a highway as well as once it flipped the screen horizontally until it was shut down and started again. I can’t imagine the quality is any better for the display components that will replace speedometers and such

Car software is a lot more involved than most of the people here would think. These days, the dashboard display is typically rendered by separate pieces of software. A pretty normal, moderately fancy rendering engine does all the animations and backgrounds while the really important information (e.g. engine/brake system malfunction) is overlaid from a separate, isolated software system with a stack that meets quite high functional safety standards. That is, the chance of the second part of the system ever failing is comparable to winning the lottery.