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> Maps are hard! Car manufacturers should leave it to the professionals. I hate this sentiment. This kind of thinking essentially says that anyone whose primar

> Maps are hard! Car manufacturers should leave it to the professionals. I hate this sentiment. This kind of thinking essentially says that anyone whose primary product isn't software should not be writing software. And what it's really saying is "If you're not FANG, you have no business writing write software" Full Disclosure: I worked in infotainment writing software for several years.

troupo 3y ago
> This kind of thinking essentially says that anyone whose primary product isn't software should not be writing software In the absolutely vast majority of cases yes, they shouldn't write their own software. Especially user-facing software. > Full Disclosure: I worked in infotainment writing software for several years. I've yet to see one that doesn't count as an unmitigated disaster
kevinventullo 3y ago
I was thinking specifically about routing. Making a competitive state-of-the-art routing app requires a massive investment which most car manufacturers are unwilling to make. You don’t have to be FANG, there are companies like Waze and TomTom which do this. But, yeah looking more broadly, this is one of many issues which become a solved problem with CarPlay and Android Auto. The investment in smartphone functionality will always be orders of magnitude larger than whatever car manufacturers can build. E.g. I can choose which routing app I use! By the way, I have worked for non-dominant FANGs in this space who also did not want to make that kind of investment. There’s a reason Facebook and Amazon don’t have their own routing apps.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  Waze was acquired by Google years ago. Tomtom powered Apple Maps until Apple rolled their own and unceremoniously dumped them in 2020, at this point they're a dead man walking. The only "indie" map providers left are OpenStreetMap and HERE, fka Navteq/Nokia, now run by Daimler and some other car companies

troupo 3y ago

> This kind of thinking essentially says that anyone whose primary product isn't software should not be writing software In the absolutely vast majority of cases yes, they shouldn't write their own software. Especially user-facing software. > Full Disclosure: I worked in infotainment writing software for several years. I've yet to see one that doesn't count as an unmitigated disaster

kevinventullo 3y ago

I was thinking specifically about routing. Making a competitive state-of-the-art routing app requires a massive investment which most car manufacturers are unwilling to make. You don’t have to be FANG, there are companies like Waze and TomTom which do this. But, yeah looking more broadly, this is one of many issues which become a solved problem with CarPlay and Android Auto. The investment in smartphone functionality will always be orders of magnitude larger than whatever car manufacturers can build. E.g. I can choose which routing app I use! By the way, I have worked for non-dominant FANGs in this space who also did not want to make that kind of investment. There’s a reason Facebook and Amazon don’t have their own routing apps.

resolutebat 3y ago
Waze was acquired by Google years ago. Tomtom powered Apple Maps until Apple rolled their own and unceremoniously dumped them in 2020, at this point they're a dead man walking. The only "indie" map providers left are OpenStreetMap and HERE, fka Navteq/Nokia, now run by Daimler and some other car companies