5 ms·

> Connected cars aren't just the future, they're the present. Been the present for 10+ years

nomel 3y ago
Taking on the persona of a boring consumer, who has had to go into the dealer to get several updates with their unconnected car, and sometimes charged for it ($200 to $700), I don't see this as bad, if it's done well.
- jazzyjackson 3y ago
  OTOH i'm well pleased i can pay $200 for a new memory card for my in-car navigation and have 0 reliance on cellular service or some cloud provider that might not exist in a few years the newest toyota's seem to lack functionality inside a parking garage
  - chucksta 3y ago
    You can download an area map and use google maps offline https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-offline/ https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-offline/
    - jeffbee 3y ago
      Maps also caches tiles along a route when you plan a trip and if it thinks you are on an unmetered internet connection.
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    That doesn't strike me as a tradeoff based on a realistic assessment of the likely outcomes. For example, VW issued updates for the 2012 GTI only until 2018. Meanwhile, even if Google or Apple were to stop operating their maps services, you could switch from one to the other, or you could switch to OSM or whoever steps in.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- JohnFen 3y ago
  As far as I can tell, literally nobody is doing it well.
  - btown 3y ago
    In a way this is a blessing in disguise, because the moment a large car company thinks they can do software well, they'll want that team to be a profit center not a cost center, which means they'll start charging for subscriptions. There's an argument that we're at Peak Mediocrity for car systems that one can own (at least at the levels that we think we own our cars now).
    - Tempest1981 3y ago
      > the moment a large car company thinks they can do software well Reminded me of this: GM stops selling the Chevy Blazer EV to deal with ‘software quality issues’ https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/23/24013357/2024-chevy-blazer-ev-stop-sale-software-problems https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/23/24013357/2024-chevy-blaz...
- crote 3y ago
  Orrrr perhaps they could just make their software update files publicly available on their website, so I can download it to a flash drive and stick it in the car myself? That's what the dealer is being paid $200-$700 to do, after all.
  - nomel 3y ago
    That makes it much harder to collect all sorts of useful statistics about the cars use, which is profitable, which is why all the manufacturers will eventually go with OTA.
AlgorithmicTime 3y ago
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Taking on the persona of a boring consumer, who has had to go into the dealer to get several updates with their unconnected car, and sometimes charged for it ($200 to $700), I don't see this as bad, if it's done well.

jazzyjackson 3y ago
OTOH i'm well pleased i can pay $200 for a new memory card for my in-car navigation and have 0 reliance on cellular service or some cloud provider that might not exist in a few years the newest toyota's seem to lack functionality inside a parking garage
- chucksta 3y ago
  You can download an area map and use google maps offline https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-offline/ https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-offline/
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    Maps also caches tiles along a route when you plan a trip and if it thinks you are on an unmetered internet connection.
- jeffbee 3y ago
  That doesn't strike me as a tradeoff based on a realistic assessment of the likely outcomes. For example, VW issued updates for the 2012 GTI only until 2018. Meanwhile, even if Google or Apple were to stop operating their maps services, you could switch from one to the other, or you could switch to OSM or whoever steps in.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
JohnFen 3y ago
As far as I can tell, literally nobody is doing it well.
- btown 3y ago
  In a way this is a blessing in disguise, because the moment a large car company thinks they can do software well, they'll want that team to be a profit center not a cost center, which means they'll start charging for subscriptions. There's an argument that we're at Peak Mediocrity for car systems that one can own (at least at the levels that we think we own our cars now).
  - Tempest1981 3y ago
    > the moment a large car company thinks they can do software well Reminded me of this: GM stops selling the Chevy Blazer EV to deal with ‘software quality issues’ https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/23/24013357/2024-chevy-blazer-ev-stop-sale-software-problems https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/23/24013357/2024-chevy-blaz...
crote 3y ago
Orrrr perhaps they could just make their software update files publicly available on their website, so I can download it to a flash drive and stick it in the car myself? That's what the dealer is being paid $200-$700 to do, after all.
- nomel 3y ago
  That makes it much harder to collect all sorts of useful statistics about the cars use, which is profitable, which is why all the manufacturers will eventually go with OTA.

AlgorithmicTime 3y ago

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