Tangentially: does anybody knows good dumb all-electric cars ?
Dacia Spring https://youtu.be/zD8NUtn5BGE
It's an open question about how good it is.
Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
141–150 of 220 posts
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not so sure. Look at the European market: manual gears everywhere. Look at the UK, South African and Autraslian market: the car is inversed, with the wheel on the right. The car market seems way different than the phone market. It's not an information platform, it moves matter. It's not virtual, it's real. It's not luxury like the phone used to be, people life depends on it already. It's not a free market, but he…
> Look at the European market: manual gears everywhere. Look at the UK, South African and Autraslian market: the car is inversed, with the wheel on the right. These aren’t really great examples of marketing to a niche. Automatic transmissions cost more money, so manuals are more popular than they are in the US in every country that has less disposable income than the US. The primary reason it’s so easy to get a left…
> in every country that has less disposable income than the US
So you argue almost all country prefer manuals? It's not true at least in Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#143A friend of mine bought new BMW and the whole thing just shut down half way into the journey, he said he was happy he could get out of it. The more complexity the higher the chance of failure. If you're like me you just want a car that get's you from point A to point B reliably and safely. You're probably thinking they will always be an option for a straightforward mechanical machine. But that may not be the case. Re…
>A friend of mine bought new BMW and the whole thing just shut down half way into the journey, he said he was happy he could get out of it.
That's more o an issue of the big German car manufacturers having outsourced their HW and SW development to suppliers who compete on cost so UX was never in the budget.
Still, I do prefer having physical switches for the critical functions of a car regardless of how polished the touch UX is.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#144I don't want my car to be a software platform. I want it to be like my microwave. It might have software, but software is only incidental to its operation. I do not want to tweet from my microwave. I do not want ads in traffic. This is non-negotiable for safety reasons alone. I don't care what I have to do to attain that. If that means replacing the radio. I will do it. If you brick my car if I don't have a Manufactu…
> I want it to be like my microwave. Yes. Plus: I want it to be like a simple microwave that does what I need: heats for a certain amount of time at a certain power level. 2 physical knobs.
Fortunately, those are also the cheapest ones.
For microwaves, my ranking is inversely correlated with price.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like a luddite sometimes. I want to limit as much as possible how many devices I own that have access to the internet. My computer(s), HTPC, phone, game consoles, and that's it. There's no reason anything else ever needs internet access.
> I feel like a luddite sometimes. Luddites were right in their own way: their point was not against technology in abstract, but about the destruction it brought to their line of work with no alternative offered. But, Luddites aside, being enthusiastic for any application of technology is a sign of the idiot consumer or the naive futurist. The actual technologist knows that some tools are good for X and not for Y use…
Many of the Luddites were successful craftsmen.
The way I would frame it is that the Luddites weren't against the technology and automation, they were against the how the gains from that increased productivity were share - with 100 % going to the owners and none going to the workers.
The reason why people think of them as of "dumb people breaking the machines" is because history is written by the victors.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but that's a losing game - the manufacturers will continually tighten security until it's infeasible - see how difficult it is to jailbreak current-generation iPhones and game consoles, for instance. The only ways out are social (consumers acting en masse to exert market pressure) or legal (regulation). You can't hack your way around this issue - as the attacker, the strong crypto that exists (and enables things…
Not everyone cares about regulations :-) My country has (since fall of USSR) been one of the biggest used car markets in Europe, and as cars have added more and more electronics people have started figuring out how they work and developing tools to work around them. I recently came across (randomly browsing) a device developed here that plugs into the OBD port and disables the AdBlue system (an extra fluid you need t…
Honestly, I hope people who disable the emission control systems on their cars get the book thrown at them.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#147I don't want my car to be a software platform. I want it to be like my microwave. It might have software, but software is only incidental to its operation. I do not want to tweet from my microwave. I do not want ads in traffic. This is non-negotiable for safety reasons alone. I don't care what I have to do to attain that. If that means replacing the radio. I will do it. If you brick my car if I don't have a Manufactu…
I will go rebuild some grandfathered antique car. The classic car community continues to thrive and the aftermarket has plenty of parts available. My daily driver (perhaps not so daily for the past year or so...) doesn't need any software to start and drive, and that's the way I like it. It doesn't have the fuel efficiency or cleanliness of a modern car, but I guess that's just the cost of freedom and comfort for whi…
Motorcycles are legal but if you commute and carry your kids around in them 100% of the time you may be choosing poorly. You moved the goalposts from a good choice to legally allowed.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Look at the European market: manual gears everywhere Automatic is more expensive. If they had the same price tag then most people would buy automatic in Europe too, because it's more convenient.
If that were the case, you would see most high end cars in France with automatic transmission. It's not the case here. People are quite attached to their manual gear.
I am one of them.
I can still start my engine if the battery is dead.
When I rent cars in Europe, I usually get 50/50 manual/automatic.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Look at the European market: manual gears everywhere. Look at the UK, South African and Autraslian market: the car is inversed, with the wheel on the right. These aren’t really great examples of marketing to a niche. Automatic transmissions cost more money, so manuals are more popular than they are in the US in every country that has less disposable income than the US. The primary reason it’s so easy to get a left…
> in every country that has less disposable income than the US So you argue almost all country prefer manuals? It's not true at least in Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...
I’m saying it’s quite strongly correlated. From memory the difference in price was a few thousand dollars between manual and automatic. For some consumers that price difference is enough to override other preferences. Some markets have more of those consumers than others, to the extent that an automatic car would be a somewhat uncommon luxury item in a lot of places.
Re: Cars are about to be a software platform, subscriptions and all
#150I don't want my car to be a software platform. I want it to be like my microwave. It might have software, but software is only incidental to its operation. I do not want to tweet from my microwave. I do not want ads in traffic. This is non-negotiable for safety reasons alone. I don't care what I have to do to attain that. If that means replacing the radio. I will do it. If you brick my car if I don't have a Manufactu…
Your microwave will end up as a subscription platform.
Services grafted on to various appliances and consumer articles are going to be the norm unless we push back. Hard.