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Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

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Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#471

Post by unethical_ban »

homefree wrote: post #466
tw04 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s always been the case with Tesla. I still have no idea how the yoke with no progressive steering and a tiny button for a horn ever passed any sanity check. Not to mention the NHTSA.

[flagged]

My Mazda from 2014 has this innovative feature: a digital control mechanism for my climate control, with real knobs! No more navigating menus and swiping across touchscreens to adjust temperature. And if I want to change the direction of the airflow? I just move the vent!

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#472

Post by whiteboardr »

garyfirestorm wrote: post #336
averageRoyalty wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the concept, but the question I have is why? These companies have huge wallets, and can surely scoop up a smaller automative microcontroller company and bring it in-house? It seems like a problem than enough money could solve quickly, but they've been doing horribly at this for decades now.

I work in one of the big three - the culture here is more waterfall and less agile. They decided at some point ‘we don’t need to be experts in building systems, we should only be good at spec’cing them and putting them together’ This leads to a mindset of relying on suppliers for changing even one line of code and at their mercy. Talent leaves because they didn’t get to do any of the fun stuff. And you’re left with b…

Get out if you can!

Spent 7 years at the three pointed star within design and UX - one day, when i’m over all i had to witness and experience i’ll write a book about the downfall of the german automotive industry.

It’s all politics and due to constant battles and changing ownership throughout departments they won’t ever have a solid foundation. And i dare to assume that this goes for most of the automotive industry.

It’s sad to see that a once driving force of innovation is stumbling over its own arrogance and ignorance.

A major factor contributing to this are cost saving measures from the early 2000s where most of them stopped in-house research and development giving most of the work to contractors - a very expensive cost saving measure long term.

We’re down to them using “technology” as a seasoning for consumption like a fancy restaurant - very little long term thinking.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#473

Post by qznc »

Jiocus wrote: post #10

The author mentions "military grade firewall", as a must have in a vehicle. Genuine question; What's a military grade firewall?

I know that "military grade" has some relevant distinction in automotive. For example, normal car parts are designed to withstand "up to 80°C" and military grade means "up to 120°C". That has an impact on material choices and cooling.

No clue about firewalls though.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#474

Post by amatecha »

iknowstuff wrote: post #449
latchkey wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting IG videos in my feed for a company that sells after market fixes because older Teslas have such poorly designed electronics, that they fail in common ways. The memory goes bad because they write useless logs to a chip, and it eventually fails. End users are beta testing... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DINADISyP0f/

You’re using a software fault which wore out the flash as evidence of poorly designed electronics?

How is writing excessive logs to a destined-to-fail flash chip in a car's electronics system not a poor design choice? Pretend the person wrote "poorly-designed electronics implementations/sytems" or similar, because that's obviously the intended meaning.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#475

Post by amatecha »

bluGill wrote: post #363
gerdesj wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excessive horning (made up word) is not just a Vietnamese thing. Italy is probably Europe's worst offender, with Greece a close contender. I'm not so familiar with Asia, but I get the impression that the entirety of Indian and most of Chinese drivers feel the need to lean on the horn with gay abandon (fnarr). In Britain the horn is generally reserved for "fuck that was close: I think you are a bit of a tosser" or "yo…

In india if you hit someone after sounding your horn you are not at fault as you gave warning and they didn't move. (It is far more complex than that but as always the real truth is too complex for a comment box - if you are trying to drive safe it is close enough, but this isn't a license to murder), As a result all drives will honk their own if there is any possibility someone might cross in front of them. India is…

Ah wow, this explains so much about the idiot who didn't know how to use a 4-way stop and nearly drove into me the other day. I thought he's giving me a hard time, blaming me, when I had the right of way. Maybe he was just doing the "warning because he might hit" thing?

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#476

Post by homefree »

rossjudson wrote: post #469
homefree wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It makes me sad that a bunch of people who've never used/adjusted to the Tesla yoke are all but guaranteeing (via whining) that yokes are going to disappear. The yoke is great after you've adjusted to it, and I don't care about proportional steering at all . That's complexity I don't need.

Yeah it’s a better design, particularly with the driver screen and it took me 10 minutes to get used to it.

I also prefer no stalks.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#477

Post by joha4270 »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #452
mrheosuper wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aviation standards allow boeing building their infamous 737-Max

That wasn't a malfunction but rather a flight control feature the pilots didn't know about. (Iirc)

That's a very Boeing friendly way of putting it.

As I understand it, yes the system worked as designed, but the design still managed to kill several hundred people.

I'm not qualified to evaluate the design of the system itself. Was it inherently flawed or would everything have been fine if the optional backup sensor had been mandatory, making this another example of corporate greed causing tragedy?

Either way, I don't think blaming the pilots is fair.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#478

Post by homefree »

unethical_ban wrote: post #471
homefree wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

My Mazda from 2014 has this innovative feature: a digital control mechanism for my climate control, with real knobs! No more navigating menus and swiping across touchscreens to adjust temperature. And if I want to change the direction of the airflow? I just move the vent!

Yeah those suck - the vents often break, they’re ugly, they don’t work as well.

The Tesla vents are great, the ui is good or can use voice. Other companies that attempt what Tesla does do it poorly with bad software.

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#479

Post by mrheosuper »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #452
mrheosuper wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aviation standards allow boeing building their infamous 737-Max

That wasn't a malfunction but rather a flight control feature the pilots didn't know about. (Iirc)

a feature that is activated when SINGLE sensor goes haywire instead of two

Re: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

#480

Post by [deleted] »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #465
metadat wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-first-quarter-2025-... Apparently, 300k+ people in 2025 Q1, and that is with a refresh in the most popular model happening in March (presumably people who would have bought held off until the new one came out and will buy in Q2 or beyond). For comparison, this is 2024 Q1: https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-vehicle-production-...

[deleted]
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