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Reading the comparison to a classic, I took the minimalist philosophy to manifest as a reduction in complexity, but I had to stop at the moment they mentioned h

Reading the comparison to a classic, I took the minimalist philosophy to manifest as a reduction in complexity, but I had to stop at the moment they mentioned having a smartphone for gauges. I get that this is probably a cost cutting measure, but putting enough electronics in a car to make a smartphone an important component of it doesn't fill me with confidence in the minimalism (and robustness, accessibility, repairability) of the computers inside, straying from a chunk of what made classics in the 20th century classics. EDIT: seems that my post was misunderstood. I'm all in favor of cutting cost and not having speakers or a radio, or gauges. But I seriously doubt that minimalism is the leading idea in this car, if it has enough electronics to drive a phone. The more electronics, the less minimalistic, and less repairable an object is. I would not consider very minimalistic a vehicle that has any digital electronics apart from the maintenance port mandated by law.

0xcoffee 7y ago
It says it has the gauges, the phone is for extra info like range and navigation. But I agree, having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange.
- LeonM 7y ago
  > having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange. I actually like that part about it! Most in-car infotainment systems (esp. in this price range) are useless anyway, and are basically already outdated on the day they leave the factory. You'll always end up with using your phone instead of the build-in system, as it is orders of magnitudes better at doing everything. So why car manufacturers even bother with trying to build their own systems always seemed weird to me. Not sure if the car has no build-in speakers at all, the article doesn't mention that. Maybe it does have build-in speakers with bluetooth connectivity, just no head-unit (frontend).
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    How do the speakers go obsolete? And in most cars the radio itself can be easily removed.
    - LeonM 7y ago
      I wasn't talking about the speakers, but the head-unit itself. This is often not just a radio, but an integrated unit with display, controls etc for navigation, radio, HVAC etc. In just about any car produced >2000 these radios are integrated in the dashboard, thus not easily replaceable.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- agumonkey 7y ago
  For you and I maybe, for kids born in the 2000s ? They won't even notice. They all sit in cars with tablets and pills/bt-speakers over 4g connections. My cousin even unplugged the external antenna for some reason. I think this tiny cart took the current generation practices deeply in.
  - bckygldstn 7y ago
    I'm currently using a bluetooth speaker in my car while I fix the stereo. Two minor UX issues I'm having: * Unlike the builtin system in my 15 year old car, the bluetooth speaker doesn't adjust volume with my car's speed, so I have to constantly adjust it. * The speaker's interface isn't designed to be used without looking (small buttons flush with the housing) so adjusting the volume all the time is particularly annoying.
    - ZiiS 7y ago
      https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.codechunk.speedofsound&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.codechunk....
    - agumonkey 7y ago
      Never knew that legacy car stereo adjusted for speed (I suppose you mean noise)
yardie 7y ago
It's an electric car it really only needs 2 gauges: range and speed. Everything else is optional information. Hell, even for ICE cars with automatic transmission getting a dashboard with a tach was considered a factory option.
thekevan 7y ago
>having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange. That may be the problem with your thinking. By their own definition, it is more of a luxurious golf cart than it is an automobile. From the article: >but the two-seat Ami is barely a car. In fact, Citroën refers to it as a "non-conformist mobility object. >It has a top speed of just 45 kilometers an hour, roughly equal to 28 miles per hour. It's powered by a 6 kilowatt, or 8 horsepower, electric motor. >For that reason, though, the Ami can be driven by kids as young as 14 in France, or 16 in many other European countries, without a license. >Under the laws of these countries, the Ami qualifies as a voiture sans permis (literally "car without license"), or quadricycle, a category of small and slow vehicle that, for purposes of regulation, is treated like a four-wheeled scooter.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Except this is wrong, the "cars without license" actually need their own specific license to drive (unless you were born before 1988, so not a teenager).

0xcoffee 7y ago

It says it has the gauges, the phone is for extra info like range and navigation. But I agree, having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange.

LeonM 7y ago
> having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange. I actually like that part about it! Most in-car infotainment systems (esp. in this price range) are useless anyway, and are basically already outdated on the day they leave the factory. You'll always end up with using your phone instead of the build-in system, as it is orders of magnitudes better at doing everything. So why car manufacturers even bother with trying to build their own systems always seemed weird to me. Not sure if the car has no build-in speakers at all, the article doesn't mention that. Maybe it does have build-in speakers with bluetooth connectivity, just no head-unit (frontend).
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  How do the speakers go obsolete? And in most cars the radio itself can be easily removed.
  - LeonM 7y ago
    I wasn't talking about the speakers, but the head-unit itself. This is often not just a radio, but an integrated unit with display, controls etc for navigation, radio, HVAC etc. In just about any car produced >2000 these radios are integrated in the dashboard, thus not easily replaceable.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
agumonkey 7y ago
For you and I maybe, for kids born in the 2000s ? They won't even notice. They all sit in cars with tablets and pills/bt-speakers over 4g connections. My cousin even unplugged the external antenna for some reason. I think this tiny cart took the current generation practices deeply in.
- bckygldstn 7y ago
  I'm currently using a bluetooth speaker in my car while I fix the stereo. Two minor UX issues I'm having: * Unlike the builtin system in my 15 year old car, the bluetooth speaker doesn't adjust volume with my car's speed, so I have to constantly adjust it. * The speaker's interface isn't designed to be used without looking (small buttons flush with the housing) so adjusting the volume all the time is particularly annoying.
  - ZiiS 7y ago
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.codechunk.speedofsound&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.codechunk....
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    Never knew that legacy car stereo adjusted for speed (I suppose you mean noise)

yardie 7y ago

It's an electric car it really only needs 2 gauges: range and speed. Everything else is optional information. Hell, even for ICE cars with automatic transmission getting a dashboard with a tach was considered a factory option.

thekevan 7y ago

>having a car with no inbuilt radio/speakers will be strange. That may be the problem with your thinking. By their own definition, it is more of a luxurious golf cart than it is an automobile. From the article: >but the two-seat Ami is barely a car. In fact, Citroën refers to it as a "non-conformist mobility object. >It has a top speed of just 45 kilometers an hour, roughly equal to 28 miles per hour. It's powered by a 6 kilowatt, or 8 horsepower, electric motor. >For that reason, though, the Ami can be driven by kids as young as 14 in France, or 16 in many other European countries, without a license. >Under the laws of these countries, the Ami qualifies as a voiture sans permis (literally "car without license"), or quadricycle, a category of small and slow vehicle that, for purposes of regulation, is treated like a four-wheeled scooter.

BlueTemplar 7y ago
Except this is wrong, the "cars without license" actually need their own specific license to drive (unless you were born before 1988, so not a teenager).