Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

investor.gm.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 187 posts

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#151

Post by danans »

tonymet wrote: post #140
freedomben wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't, at least in the US. Regulations won't permit making dumb cars like that anymore.

This is a big problem, and a major reason why average car cost is ~ $40k now

The cost of a cars has risen lower than the rate of inflation for nearly the past 90 years, and for much of the time period when cars were getting computerized (since the late 90s) average new car prices dropped rather than went up. All the while cars were getting safer (seat belts, airbags, crumple zones) and far more reliable.

https://www.in2013dollars.com/New-cars/price-inflation

The most recent price spike is a direct result of the pandemic supply chain issues and car makers shutting down manufacturing capacity in anticipation of a consumer collapse that didn't happen (instead the opposite happened).

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-used-car-price-kelley-blue-...

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#152

Post by olliej »

lallysingh wrote: post #149
olliej wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Updated infotainment is a feature of a new car. The whole point of the android and iPhone car thingies is that is not the case. New features no longer require buy a new car, you just get the free software update with your phone, and get whatever new features your phone hardware supports. Maybe you eventually get to the point your phone can no longer provide all the features of the OS update, but if you really want…

Do you mean new apps?

Both google and apple's car software are updated annually afaict, including major things like the mapping/navigation and turn-by-turn support.

I have an old car so know nothing more than:

* Android Auto and CarPlay exist * They are regarded as being better than manufacturer provided software (but again I haven't used them) * They get updated regularly

The last point is the one that I just don't see manufacturers doing, and even if they did I assume they'd require that to be a service center visit.

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#153

Post by iancmceachern »

LarryDarrell wrote: post #26

The 2022 Chevy Silverado I rented died at 488 miles on the odometer. The roadside assistance mechanic said the transmission "lost data connection to the engine". Later, a tow truck had to drag it onto it's flatbed as the rear wheels were locked up. Also, apparently the tailgate is electric now. And for some reason it stopped working when the transmission died. Also also, there is no way to turn the truck off? When it…

"but I am gobsmacked at just how terrible modern vehicles are"

I have a F250 platinum with many similar features, including an electrically operated tailgate and I've had exactly zero issues in 50k miles. Obligatory knock on wood.

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#154

Post by nyarlathotep_ »

jjav wrote: post #131
LarryDarrell wrote: post #26

The 2022 Chevy Silverado I rented died at 488 miles on the odometer. The roadside assistance mechanic said the transmission "lost data connection to the engine". Later, a tow truck had to drag it onto it's flatbed as the rear wheels were locked up. Also, apparently the tailgate is electric now. And for some reason it stopped working when the transmission died. Also also, there is no way to turn the truck off? When it…

> "lost data connection to the engine" I've been commenting on this for a while, the current cars are extremely fragile electrically given how everything is interconnected. I had a tail light go out in a BMW, a repair that should cost maybe $1 for a new bulb or in the worst case a few more dollars in new wire. On the BMW? A $1000+ proprietary control module plus access to multi-tens-of-thousands dollars of BMW factor…

People also fail to realize that often dealers are the only source that can even replace these components. Bob's Tire on main is likely not going to be able to troubleshoot nor replace stuff like this when these components start to fail regularly out of warranty in the coming years.

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#156

Post by aaplnisider »

jjoonathan wrote: post #111
aaplnisider wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an engineering manager in Mike's org. I liked him on a personal level but he was thrown a lot of legacy services from other orgs. Cloud services is just not Apple's forte. The internal tools/infra feels 10 years behind Google (based on friends who've worked at both). I too heard that he was pushed out.

2013 Google tooling was pretty decent. Does WebObjects still haunt Apple's cloud services?

Yep, some services still do.

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#158

Post by JPws_Prntr_Fngr »

switch007 wrote: post #139
smaccona wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of thing is not limited to Chevy/GM. The new 2023 BMW i7 (starting price ~$120K, fully loaded ~$160K) comes with options for a massive fold-down widescreen cinema in the back seat, and the back seat can turn into a recliner for the ultimate movie experience (I am paraphrasing)[1][2]. My daughter looked at a couple of reviews and said something along the lines of "it's like they thought of every amazing thin…

BMW lost its way when it made an SUV, at the turn of the last century. Then horrible things like front wheel drive happened in 2004! Then more odd numbers! 2, 4, 6…! And then they put a turbo on the M3. Absolute carnage after 1999 lol

I’d say they kept it together a little longer. My 2006 e46 still had most of that BMW DNA from my friends’ e36 & e30s… Even my 2010 e83 is essentially a lifted e46 (with a really bad suspension tune). IMHO it was really the f chassis where they told their enthusiast fans to fuck off so they could sell to suburban women instead

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#159

Post by VectorLock »

LarryDarrell wrote: post #109
germinalphrase wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there many new vehicles that satisfy your conditions, or are you in the vintage camp?

I have a friend who has been a Automotive Engineer for 20 years and we have this conversation all the time. If I were to distill all our conversations down to one take away it would be this: There was a paradigm shift sometime shortly after the Great Recession. Before then, vehicles operated and degraded in expected and manageable ways. I'm in the vintage camp at the moment. I just replaced the Chrysler ignition syst…

Funny, I always considered about 2008-2012 to be about the sweet spot for vehicles. Enough electronics but not too much.

Re: Ex-Apple VP Mike Abbott Joins General Motors as Exec Vice President, Software

#160

Post by VectorLock »

LarryDarrell wrote: post #129
caycep wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a sweet spot between parts commonality/compatibility and proper reliability engineering? I get the feeling that cars before the 90s had parts commonality but reliability was more of an afterthought.

The 80s were a weird decade. GM didn't want to give up vacuum lines, Ford had electronic fuel injection and little else, and Chrysler had those K-Cars that broke a lot, but they were at least cheap to fix. Toyotas, Hondas and Volvos of that era lasted a long time, and it would have been simple to predict had you bothered to look. Simplicity + Robustness = Longevity. Because of that equation, the domestic long running…

>Except Chrysler, it's best to avoid all era of Chrysler and I say this as former K-Car and Ram owner.

Jeeps are hilariously bad. Like "far and away statistically the worst" reliability wise.

Post reply on HN