Some thoughts about the smartphones we’re driving now:
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I didn’t watch the video, ’cause I drive a ‘dumb phone’.
Think I’d rather walk or ride a donkey than have a sthmart car.
The screens will fail after time. Pixels will start going out for example.
Maybe a third party replacement industry will develop for the screens. I don’t see the automakers making that easy, in fact they will probably go out of their way to make it hard to develop that.
Decades ago, third party parts and customization was more common. I think that has really fallen by the wayside as automakers don’t like other people messing with their electronics and software. Up until electronics third party customization was a huge industry and would actually push the new car industry to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done.
What I would love to see, complete replacement of the original automakers software. That would be a job, reverse engineering that. The government of course would hate that, as they would think everyone would remove emissions controls for performance.
IMHO, any car software should become open source after the warranty expires. Yeah, the automaker doesn’t have to support it anymore, but they shouldn’t block others from working on it. Especially when they aren’t interested in it anymore.
I have thought about buying a second touch screen for my newer vehicle, and then stashing it away for future use when I will need to replace it. Oh, I may be able to buy one now, but who knows years from now? Or, I can find it, but the price will be astronomical compared to now’s prices.
Eric has been grousing that features originally found exclusively in luxury automobiles have filtered down to entry-level cars. Paying twice as much gains you nothing, he observes. Now a starry-eyed WSJ stenographer claims that Cadillac’s $395,000 Celestiq has blown through the limits of the ordinary and pedestrian:
‘GM is betting that the Cadillac Celestiq, with its ultraluxurious customizable design and striking silhouette, will become a coveted electric limousine [sic] in the new gilded age of the hyperwealthy.
‘The status-seeking proportions obliged designers to use the largest wheels and tires that could reasonably be fitted: custom 22-inch Michelin Pilot Sport EVs wrapped around forged alloy rims [sic] (for extra swagger, specify the 23s).
‘The brand’s boomerang motif is restated in sizzling [sic] LED side markers/signals in the sail panels.
‘I dialed in the car’s lane-keeping driver assistance [sic] and pointed it downhill, overtaking Porsches as I went. I could have
pleasured myselfdriven with one finger.‘Its estimated range (303 miles) and its leisurely-charging 400V battery system
isare a step behind the global standard. These are things poor people worry about.‘https://archive.ph/u36t3#selection-847.284-847.443
‘Sizzling’ LEDs? Custom ‘rims’? ‘Lane-keep assistance’ that lets
youthe computer blow by Porsches with one finger?Where do they find the impressionable, gender-fluid, developmentally-retarded boys to scribble this risible brain rot? I ‘specified the 23s,’ paid with a forged US Treasury check, and then huffed laughing gas till I passed out.
I read the WSJ article, which mentions the Lucid Air. Not being familiar with this EV-only company, I did a quick search. The MSRP of a 2023 Lucid Air Pure (which is the base model) was $89k. I quickly found a used 2023 with about 10k miles listed for $43k. Let’s assume you could haggle it down to $40k. Well, that equals a $46k (i.e. $1,100 per month or $4.60 per mile) depreciation. Good God!
That’s the price of ‘saving the planet’!
(It used to be called the stupidity tax!)
Jesus, I was having nightmares about electronics and refurbishing instruments last night, likely because it will be coming true in the near future.
Scientific instruments are similar to the these vehicles in that, often, when the controlling software is no longer available, you can have an otherwise functioning system, but it’s useless unless you are able to create an alternative. Many instruments that were originally 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars can be had for a few hundred or a few thousand, but they’re often missing the original software and/or controlling computer (which might run Windows 98 or something).
Bottom line, if you’re resourceful and knowledgeable, you can manage a workaround, but we’d all do better if vehicles didn’t follow that model.
Electronics typically aren’t worth fixing. My grandson crashed his drone. His dad shipped it off to be repaired. The end-to-end cost was just shy of what it’d be to buy a new one.
And, electronics usually have an end-of-life / end-of-support date, hence, the manufacturer moves on to the next latest & greatest. I guess as long as the car companies & their suppliers don’t do the John Deere style everything is software monopoly, and a company can meet the fit/form/function then replacements can be manufactured.