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Even if the infotainment has been in development for 15 years, all new cars I've played with seem less responsive than a 1st-generation iPhone despite having a

Even if the infotainment has been in development for 15 years, all new cars I've played with seem less responsive than a 1st-generation iPhone despite having a UI that is no more capable. Either the engineers aren't making the most of the hardware or the hardware is underpowered by a few decades.

arlcode 3y ago
I can imagine that customers are annoyed by laggy UIs but don't weigh that very highly when deciding to buy a new car. Especially if the competition is roughly equally slow, the costs to engineer a responsive solution might be to high for its impact on sales. Consumers, being used to feature rich phones, may indeed value feature count over quality (for the entertainment System). Despite what OEMs claim a car is first and foremost a means of transportation and a "software Plattform" only after that.
- donalhunt 3y ago
  I think it's a growing factor and the linked article would indicates that manufacturers are receiving feedback about it. It's not clear whether that feedback is from sales channels (i.e. potential customers are shunning particular products) or from service channels (customers are reporting issues that require additional development spend resulting in profits being eroded). Personally, I've been looking for a new car for 3+ years and the quality of controls (which are nearly all touchscreen based these days) is a major factor. This is also a reflection that trust in car manufacturers to address software related issues is low - they are used to designing and building cars that are churned out in 3+ year cycles. Moving to a scenario where the product is changing monthly is a huge change. My 13 year old current car is extremely solid and the controls don't change month to month - something that does happen without any customer choice in more recent times. :/
- wruza 3y ago
  customers are annoyed by laggy UIs but don't weigh that very highly when deciding to buy a new car UI is not something you can evaluate on a 30 min test drive under sales pressure. Sometimes there’s no way to test it (no rain, no snow, no free straight road, no immediate glitches). And there’s no reviews that cover it. It’s not a weighted decision, it’s a decision out of only parameters that are most obvious. The same way you play a lottery with e.g. a washing machine, whether it beeps after unlocking the door or you have to go and sit near it like an idiot for a whole minute.
masklinn 3y ago
> or the hardware is underpowered by a few decades. Wouldn’t surprise me, automotive-grade components tend to trade power for durability & certs, and then you cut down on BOM. And then the infotainment is hardly ever a visible make or break, people will shrug, then sigh heavily for years as they try to use the POS.
taeric 3y ago
Seem is doing a lot of lifting there. For one, there is no generation of iPhone that is safe to use while driving. Such that you have a ton more tolerance for a phone than you would a car system. Mostly for good reasons. It doesn't help that iphones from that time frame aren't really in use today. Car systems are.
- kaba0 3y ago
  Yeah, CarPlay is definitely not a thing.. Also, maybe the expected lifetime of something used to turn up and down the volume and show a map while being in a fixed case and not even having its own battery is different than a device running on battery, thrown around in everyday life and literally being pressed on 0-24. And even then an iphone from the last 5 years might well be expected to run for 5 more with a battery replacement at most. Mobile hardware went over a huge change in this timeframe.
  - taeric 3y ago
    I confess I am not a frequent driver. I do frequently get mad at my phone. And my computer. Though, not as often as it seems the average hn visitor does. :) I did not mean my post to dismiss the idea that we should expect better. I'm just worried that the practices we put up with elsewhere in software would not, necessarily, be the answer.
ihatepython 3y ago
> all new cars I've played with seem less responsive than a 1st-generation iPhone despite having a UI that is no more capable. The first gen iPhone is highly responsive and has a highly capable UI, more so than even the current gen iPhone. It's not the engineers, it's you who doesn't have a clue.

arlcode 3y ago

I can imagine that customers are annoyed by laggy UIs but don't weigh that very highly when deciding to buy a new car. Especially if the competition is roughly equally slow, the costs to engineer a responsive solution might be to high for its impact on sales. Consumers, being used to feature rich phones, may indeed value feature count over quality (for the entertainment System). Despite what OEMs claim a car is first and foremost a means of transportation and a "software Plattform" only after that.

donalhunt 3y ago
I think it's a growing factor and the linked article would indicates that manufacturers are receiving feedback about it. It's not clear whether that feedback is from sales channels (i.e. potential customers are shunning particular products) or from service channels (customers are reporting issues that require additional development spend resulting in profits being eroded). Personally, I've been looking for a new car for 3+ years and the quality of controls (which are nearly all touchscreen based these days) is a major factor. This is also a reflection that trust in car manufacturers to address software related issues is low - they are used to designing and building cars that are churned out in 3+ year cycles. Moving to a scenario where the product is changing monthly is a huge change. My 13 year old current car is extremely solid and the controls don't change month to month - something that does happen without any customer choice in more recent times. :/
wruza 3y ago
customers are annoyed by laggy UIs but don't weigh that very highly when deciding to buy a new car UI is not something you can evaluate on a 30 min test drive under sales pressure. Sometimes there’s no way to test it (no rain, no snow, no free straight road, no immediate glitches). And there’s no reviews that cover it. It’s not a weighted decision, it’s a decision out of only parameters that are most obvious. The same way you play a lottery with e.g. a washing machine, whether it beeps after unlocking the door or you have to go and sit near it like an idiot for a whole minute.

masklinn 3y ago

> or the hardware is underpowered by a few decades. Wouldn’t surprise me, automotive-grade components tend to trade power for durability & certs, and then you cut down on BOM. And then the infotainment is hardly ever a visible make or break, people will shrug, then sigh heavily for years as they try to use the POS.

taeric 3y ago

Seem is doing a lot of lifting there. For one, there is no generation of iPhone that is safe to use while driving. Such that you have a ton more tolerance for a phone than you would a car system. Mostly for good reasons. It doesn't help that iphones from that time frame aren't really in use today. Car systems are.

kaba0 3y ago
Yeah, CarPlay is definitely not a thing.. Also, maybe the expected lifetime of something used to turn up and down the volume and show a map while being in a fixed case and not even having its own battery is different than a device running on battery, thrown around in everyday life and literally being pressed on 0-24. And even then an iphone from the last 5 years might well be expected to run for 5 more with a battery replacement at most. Mobile hardware went over a huge change in this timeframe.
- taeric 3y ago
  I confess I am not a frequent driver. I do frequently get mad at my phone. And my computer. Though, not as often as it seems the average hn visitor does. :) I did not mean my post to dismiss the idea that we should expect better. I'm just worried that the practices we put up with elsewhere in software would not, necessarily, be the answer.

ihatepython 3y ago

> all new cars I've played with seem less responsive than a 1st-generation iPhone despite having a UI that is no more capable. The first gen iPhone is highly responsive and has a highly capable UI, more so than even the current gen iPhone. It's not the engineers, it's you who doesn't have a clue.