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Part of the issues are all the regulations. Personally I’d like to buy a cheap car, nothing auto, no wireless over-the-air updates, etc That said, governments

Part of the issues are all the regulations. Personally I’d like to buy a cheap car, nothing auto, no wireless over-the-air updates, etc That said, governments (like the US) regulate cars. I can’t buy a car without seat belts, they’re required to have emission reducing stuff, they have to monitor (and fake lol) their emissions. Now the government trying to force manufacturers to have remote stop capabilities, etc. It’s illegal to have basic, cheap, cars. Not saying the regulations are bad one way or another tbh. I do enjoy the lack of smog, but I do wonder how much of “reducing emissions” and all these other regulations was more about building a moat for manufacturers.

kibwen 3y ago
Seatbelts and catalytic converters aren't the reasons cars are shit these days. Furthermore, the government isn't the reason that cars have replaced all their tactile controls with shite touchscreens, advertising telemetry, and subscription seatwarmers; private industry did that. Get rid of the government regulations? Great, you have completely failed to address the private industry incentives that brought us here, so now you have gone from a shitty unrepairable touchscreen car with seatbelts to a shitty unrepairable touchscreen car with no seatbelts, thus missing the point entirely.
- lettergram 3y ago
  Except if there’s a market for cheap cars, other manufacturers/ startups can’t enter due to regulations. Deregulation enables higher competition, reducing costs to consumers & increases options. The reason we have shitty touch screens is because the government regulates competitors from entering.
  - XorNot 3y ago
    Ah yes, the crippling costs of checks notes "installing seatbelts". That's definitely the problem.
    - lettergram 3y ago
      I gave two examples off hand, there are thousands of regulations.
  - Towaway69 3y ago
    Deregulating a death machine could be problematic. Much of the regulation around cars has to do with safety of third parties. However I agree that many markets are closed to newcomers because of regulations, fees and interest groups. But given enough money, even the automobile industry can be disrupted - see tesla.
  - kibwen 3y ago
    Getting rid of seatbelts and emissions standards doesn't make cars cheaper, it just externalizes the costs from the purchaser onto the rest of us in the forms of increased death rates, higher hospital bills, environmental devastation, reduced IQs, and higher prevalence of respiratory conditions. I am begging the "deregulation" crowd to understand the concept of negative externalities and why markets don't work if societal incentives aren't properly aligned.
  - tuna74 3y ago
    In Europe at least there are several new manufacturers that try to compete on price. Skoda in the 90s, Dacia later and now the Chinese EV brands.
    - vetinari 3y ago
      Škoda is the fifth oldest car brand in the world.
- jjav 3y ago
  > Furthermore, the government isn't the reason that cars have replaced all their tactile controls with shite touchscreens It was the government, although not quite that directly. Government mandated back up camera which requires a screen on the dash. So once that is forcefully put in there, it was inevitable that product managers start to want to use it to save money by moving all the useful tactine controls with cheap buggy software on that screen.

kibwen 3y ago

Seatbelts and catalytic converters aren't the reasons cars are shit these days. Furthermore, the government isn't the reason that cars have replaced all their tactile controls with shite touchscreens, advertising telemetry, and subscription seatwarmers; private industry did that. Get rid of the government regulations? Great, you have completely failed to address the private industry incentives that brought us here, so now you have gone from a shitty unrepairable touchscreen car with seatbelts to a shitty unrepairable touchscreen car with no seatbelts, thus missing the point entirely.

lettergram 3y ago
Except if there’s a market for cheap cars, other manufacturers/ startups can’t enter due to regulations. Deregulation enables higher competition, reducing costs to consumers & increases options. The reason we have shitty touch screens is because the government regulates competitors from entering.
- XorNot 3y ago
  Ah yes, the crippling costs of checks notes "installing seatbelts". That's definitely the problem.
  - lettergram 3y ago
    I gave two examples off hand, there are thousands of regulations.
- Towaway69 3y ago
  Deregulating a death machine could be problematic. Much of the regulation around cars has to do with safety of third parties. However I agree that many markets are closed to newcomers because of regulations, fees and interest groups. But given enough money, even the automobile industry can be disrupted - see tesla.
- kibwen 3y ago
  Getting rid of seatbelts and emissions standards doesn't make cars cheaper, it just externalizes the costs from the purchaser onto the rest of us in the forms of increased death rates, higher hospital bills, environmental devastation, reduced IQs, and higher prevalence of respiratory conditions. I am begging the "deregulation" crowd to understand the concept of negative externalities and why markets don't work if societal incentives aren't properly aligned.
- tuna74 3y ago
  In Europe at least there are several new manufacturers that try to compete on price. Skoda in the 90s, Dacia later and now the Chinese EV brands.
  - vetinari 3y ago
    Škoda is the fifth oldest car brand in the world.
jjav 3y ago
> Furthermore, the government isn't the reason that cars have replaced all their tactile controls with shite touchscreens It was the government, although not quite that directly. Government mandated back up camera which requires a screen on the dash. So once that is forcefully put in there, it was inevitable that product managers start to want to use it to save money by moving all the useful tactine controls with cheap buggy software on that screen.