5 ms·

> apps as a weird Tech People affectation Maybe I never had the right luxury brand car, but I still see it as such. If I want to have an app for my car, I’m m

> apps as a weird Tech People affectation Maybe I never had the right luxury brand car, but I still see it as such. If I want to have an app for my car, I’m my opinion that car failed me to provide with a simple, convenient driving experience. I want to get in the car, check if it’s charged / filled up enough, check for errors (as a routine, but there shouldn’t be any), and drive. If I need to change anything (AC, light, volume) I should be able to do it without having to take my eyes off the road. What features do you like so much that you consider them “invaluable”?

jdminhbg 1y ago
I would say the place where I differ is here: > I want to get in the car, I don't want to have to get in the car to do any of this. I'm able to get the climate control started in the car by saying out loud "Hey Siri, warm up car" (a shortcut I set up exposed by the Tesla app). The location is always up-to-date so if my wife is driving the kids in it, I can see their current location and ETA. I want to be able to open the door without unlocking the car manually. I want to be able to close the trunk remotely if I carried in a load of groceries. Etc. None of this is some kind of alien technology that Tesla invented, but rather the vast majority of legacy car manufacturer apps are just total garbage piles that were outsourced to some low-bidder somewhere. It shouldn't be that hard.
- delusional 1y ago
  Finally I get to ask this of a real person. How important are these things for you? If the automatic trunk motor broke, how much would you be willing to pay to fix it? What is the value difference for you to be able to heat up the car from outside the car? My questions point towards some variation of my central question: why does any of those things matter to you in a car? The primary purpose of a car is to get me places, everything else is optional. Is it because all the cars are equally sufficient for getting you places or so you actually value remotely controlling your car higher than the cars ability to drive you places? For myself all of those gimmicks are just more complication that can break. I value a car that is fun to drive and with minimal abstraction. It sounds like you value maximal abstraction, and that's quite odd to me. I wish to understand your viewpoint.
  - encom 1y ago
    The only two features I use of my car app (which is also a Leaf), is to remote start the heater, and check the charge level. This car is the first one I've owned with remote heating. Is it essential? No. But after scraping ice off my car manually for 20 years, I don't ever want to go back. But that's all I use the remote heater for - de-icing. As for battery charge level, I don't know why the various charger apps can't read that info off the car as it charges, but I'm sure there's some incredibly dumb reason for that.
  - geoffpado 1y ago
    (Not the person you’re replying to) I’ve never had a car with an automatic trunk motor, so I can’t answer that one, but back when I lived in the Midwest, if my ability to remote start the car to power climate control (particularly of the windshield defrost) stopped working, that definitely would have been in the “I’m willing to pay thousands to fix this” realm. In some cases, that would absolutely limit the ability for the car to get me places; you’re not going very far with a quarter inch of ice on the windshield. In the summer, it gets closer to “gimmick” territory, but there are also totally times when interior surfaces of the car were too hot to touch, and that affects driving in its own right if you can’t grab the steering wheel.
    - Gasp0de 1y ago
      You know you can just scratch the ice off, right?
      - Mashimo 1y ago
        If something is broken to the point that the car can't heat up, yet it's cold that there is thick ice on the windshield I would think twice about driving. Even if you could remove the ice.
        Gasp0de 1y ago
        No one said anything about anything being broken, just about the ability to remotely heat up the car before starting to drive. Having a heating and having a remote controlled heating that works with the car switched off are two separate things.
- nkrisc 1y ago
  Having used a car for many years, I suppose these things are nicer than not having them, but they also sound like the kind of features I’d come up with if you said to me, “we already developed an app for our latest car model. What should it do?”
  - triceratops 1y ago
    They're nice to haves for ICE vehicles. Pre-heating an EV cabin before departing, when the car is plugged in, increases range by a lot. Turning charging on and off via lets you take advantage of low electricity rates.
    - nkrisc 1y ago
      Ok, that makes a bit more sense, especially since I have not owned an EV. > Pre-heating an EV cabin before departing Cars have been doing this for a years now with a keyfob. But I suppose over network/cell gives you greater range. > Turning charging on and off via lets you take advantage of low electricity rates. I would have thought that'd be a feature of the charger, not the car, but not an EV owner so maybe I'm just wrong here. That does make more sense for an app, but also sounds like a feature that could work fine without one too.
      - triceratops 1y ago
        > But I suppose over network/cell gives you greater range. Useful if you're charging in the parking lot at your work, or at a mall or whatever.

jdminhbg 1y ago

I would say the place where I differ is here: > I want to get in the car, I don't want to have to get in the car to do any of this. I'm able to get the climate control started in the car by saying out loud "Hey Siri, warm up car" (a shortcut I set up exposed by the Tesla app). The location is always up-to-date so if my wife is driving the kids in it, I can see their current location and ETA. I want to be able to open the door without unlocking the car manually. I want to be able to close the trunk remotely if I carried in a load of groceries. Etc. None of this is some kind of alien technology that Tesla invented, but rather the vast majority of legacy car manufacturer apps are just total garbage piles that were outsourced to some low-bidder somewhere. It shouldn't be that hard.

delusional 1y ago
Finally I get to ask this of a real person. How important are these things for you? If the automatic trunk motor broke, how much would you be willing to pay to fix it? What is the value difference for you to be able to heat up the car from outside the car? My questions point towards some variation of my central question: why does any of those things matter to you in a car? The primary purpose of a car is to get me places, everything else is optional. Is it because all the cars are equally sufficient for getting you places or so you actually value remotely controlling your car higher than the cars ability to drive you places? For myself all of those gimmicks are just more complication that can break. I value a car that is fun to drive and with minimal abstraction. It sounds like you value maximal abstraction, and that's quite odd to me. I wish to understand your viewpoint.
- encom 1y ago
  The only two features I use of my car app (which is also a Leaf), is to remote start the heater, and check the charge level. This car is the first one I've owned with remote heating. Is it essential? No. But after scraping ice off my car manually for 20 years, I don't ever want to go back. But that's all I use the remote heater for - de-icing. As for battery charge level, I don't know why the various charger apps can't read that info off the car as it charges, but I'm sure there's some incredibly dumb reason for that.
- geoffpado 1y ago
  (Not the person you’re replying to) I’ve never had a car with an automatic trunk motor, so I can’t answer that one, but back when I lived in the Midwest, if my ability to remote start the car to power climate control (particularly of the windshield defrost) stopped working, that definitely would have been in the “I’m willing to pay thousands to fix this” realm. In some cases, that would absolutely limit the ability for the car to get me places; you’re not going very far with a quarter inch of ice on the windshield. In the summer, it gets closer to “gimmick” territory, but there are also totally times when interior surfaces of the car were too hot to touch, and that affects driving in its own right if you can’t grab the steering wheel.
  - Gasp0de 1y ago
    You know you can just scratch the ice off, right?
    - Mashimo 1y ago
      If something is broken to the point that the car can't heat up, yet it's cold that there is thick ice on the windshield I would think twice about driving. Even if you could remove the ice.
      - Gasp0de 1y ago
        No one said anything about anything being broken, just about the ability to remotely heat up the car before starting to drive. Having a heating and having a remote controlled heating that works with the car switched off are two separate things.
nkrisc 1y ago
Having used a car for many years, I suppose these things are nicer than not having them, but they also sound like the kind of features I’d come up with if you said to me, “we already developed an app for our latest car model. What should it do?”
- triceratops 1y ago
  They're nice to haves for ICE vehicles. Pre-heating an EV cabin before departing, when the car is plugged in, increases range by a lot. Turning charging on and off via lets you take advantage of low electricity rates.
  - nkrisc 1y ago
    Ok, that makes a bit more sense, especially since I have not owned an EV. > Pre-heating an EV cabin before departing Cars have been doing this for a years now with a keyfob. But I suppose over network/cell gives you greater range. > Turning charging on and off via lets you take advantage of low electricity rates. I would have thought that'd be a feature of the charger, not the car, but not an EV owner so maybe I'm just wrong here. That does make more sense for an app, but also sounds like a feature that could work fine without one too.
    - triceratops 1y ago
      > But I suppose over network/cell gives you greater range. Useful if you're charging in the parking lot at your work, or at a mall or whatever.