6 ms·

> Catering to families means expensive bells and whistles, like entertainment systems, etc. It absolutely does NOT mean those things. Cars didn't have enterta

> Catering to families means expensive bells and whistles, like entertainment systems, etc. It absolutely does NOT mean those things. Cars didn't have entertainment systems for nearly a century and families did just fine. <Get off my lawn> My entertainment system was the window. Observe the world, not just whatever AI-generated garbage some algorithm pushes to a small screen 8-10 inches away from your eyes. </Get off my lawn>

0xdeadbeefbabe 1y ago
The alphabet game still works if you teach them to read.
ethbr1 1y ago
And aside from a window, you know what's better than a car infotainment system? A physical holder for a personal pad device. The amount of not-invented-here, duplicate functionality that car companies execute poorly, when buyers already have devices that do that well, is ridiculous. The biggest benefit of aligning manufacturing costs for profit should be jettisoning the "post-sale" revenue streams that drive complicated built-in tech for current cars. And also, you-know, 100% A+ on getting back to "customize your own car, because it's cheap and supported"! Owners being afraid of doing what they want with their devices/vehicles has to stop.
- looofooo0 1y ago
  Lol, yes we just throw a phone and a Tablet with headphones to the kids.
  - jajko 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
      I'm sure your screenless children are perfect :)
      - tomrod 1y ago
        Aye. It's a staple of both failed and successful parents. In fact, using a screen in a car is wholly unrelated to, well, anything.
        looofooo0 1y ago
        I mean, probably many assume that we drive around our kids everyday (which we dont) cause they can walk or bike to school. Then that on every small trip they get a phone or tablet (neither true). It is just for 1 hour or more trips which are once a month or less.
- FredPret 1y ago
  > The amount of not-invented-here, duplicate functionality that car companies execute poorly, when buyers already have devices that do that well, is ridiculous. Like when GM invented their own computer to put into their cars instead of just buying one off the shelf decades ago
tekla 1y ago
Kids will return to imagining Sonic running along the car
- ethbr1 1y ago
  {insert Sonic ring sound in your head}
- RandomBacon 1y ago
  I never heard it quite put that way, but yes, I did something very similar.
- parpfish 1y ago
  you mean "finger-man running on the side of the road and jumping over buildings"? we would've called it parkour if we had known what parkour was back then
avn2109 1y ago
Yes! By far the biggest feature here is "no infotainment" which leads directly to "hard controls for HVAC," that alone is a killer feature! They should double down on that concept and make the truck work perfectly with no apps at all and no OtA updates too.
- palata 1y ago
  No OTA updates would be a killer. What is the need for OTA updates for an EV, once you remove the autopilot and touch screen? Genuinely interested, I would guess there is none, right?
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    Patches and OTA updates just scream "We know ahead of time our product is defective." Arguably OK for software (but I'd argue not), but not even remotely OK for cars.
    - LeafItAlone 1y ago
      >"We know ahead of time our product is defective." All products are defective. Full stop. Cars are necessarily complex and have a lot of software to get the safety, comfortable, and reliability we expect today. Most vehicles get some sort of recall; usually minor. I just checked the NHTSA recall website and every car I could think of owned by people I know (~30 vehicles) had some had some recall. Cars should have an easy way to update. I’m generally against always connected cars (which are the norm today), but there must be some way to patch them. I don’t like the idea of cars having cellular modems in them (my mind goes to nefarious implications), but having a way to securely update it without having to bring to a mechanic would be nice.
      - dlcarrier 1y ago
        >All products are defective. Full stop. Nothing can be made to work over an infinite temperature range, or for an infinite period of time, but a product that can meet its specifications, for its design life, is in no way defective. That happens all the time, for example with electronics: Every component in your computer or phone, down to the smallest resistor and capacitor, has multiple pages of documentation characterizing it's performance, and is individually tested to ensure it meets the stated capabilities. Each trace on the circuit board is tested to make sure it is complete and not shorted to any other trace, and once assembled every component is verified to be correctly installed. This means designs can be proven to always operate within the specifications of every component. This isn't some fancy military-spec process; it's standard operating procedure for petty much every electronics component or assemblies manufacturer. At the volume manufacturing equipment handles, it's much cheaper and easier to automate qualifying and testing everything, at every step, than dealing with the ramifications of manufacturing a bad batch. There are occasional bad parts that do get into the mix, but it's usually a pretty big scandal. From botched industrial espionage leading to a plague of defective electrolytic capacitors in the early 2000's to management pressure at Samsung leading to the release of a defective battery design on Note7 phones, there are occasionally products that should be recalled for defective hardware, but with a design consisting of hundreds to thousands of parts, on almost every phone or laptop ever produced, every component has lasted past the useful life of the product and, except for ware items like batteries and displays, would continue working past the useful life of the human using it. If kept simple, as is doable with an electric drive train, and especially if devoid of non-embedded software (a field which seems to have no interest in error-free designs: https://xkcd.com/2030/ https://xkcd.com/2030/) a recall-free and provably capable vehicle is completely doable.
hylaride 1y ago
> It absolutely does NOT mean those things. I don't personally disagree with you, but today it pretty much does. Anyways, my point is that this is designed as a utilitarian, cheap truck that covers the use case that most pickup trucks are actually utilitarian for, like local farm or light duty construction work. It's got a short range, no entertainment for long drives, etc. The article doesn't even say if it has AC (Slate's site seems to have images that allude to it having it). The OP wants something for families, which exists and costs more because most families want more. They want good, cheap, and available when you can only have two. Even with gas/diesel powered trucks, there's a huge difference between the utilitarian ones construction workers and farmers buy and beat up and the expensive "luxury" quad-cabs that families now buy because minivans are too uncool.
- taylodl 1y ago
  If you consider a fur baby a family! :) I want something much more utilitarian than what is being pitched to today's families. If you want a Quad Cab, Infotainment systems, and yadda, yadda, yadda - the market already has options. Lots of them. If you want a cheap, light duty truck similar to what a Chevy S10 or a Ford Ranger used to be, then you're pretty much SOL.
hermitcrab 1y ago
>Cars didn't have entertainment systems for nearly a century and families did just fine. ARE WE THERE YET? ... ARE WE THERE YET? ... ARE WE THERE YET?
- hn7283 1y ago
  [dead]
- hyperhopper 1y ago
  That was before smartphone and tablets were common
crazygringo 1y ago
> My entertainment system was the window. Observe the world... The world is pretty freaking boring when it's just pavement and the 5,000th time you've passed the same strip mall, gas station, and McDonald's. The same dirty snowbanks on either side of the same gray asphalt under the interminably gray winter sky. Maybe you lived in a place of wonderful natural beauty, or a vibrant urban street culture. A lot of people don't.
- reaperducer 1y ago
  The world is pretty freaking boring when it's just pavement and the 5,000th time you've passed the same strip mall, gas station, and McDonald's. The same dirty snowbanks on either side of the same gray asphalt under the interminably gray winter sky. And yet, somehow the children survived and thrived. They learned to make up games, to entertain themselves, and to -- perish the thought -- talk to other human beings in their own family! /shudder/
  - crazygringo 1y ago
    Did they? I hate to tell you, but a lot of them didn't thrive. Some of them didn't even survive. Some of them didn't have families that particularly want to talk to them. Or when they were spoken to, it wasn't exactly healthy. Just because maybe you had a great childhood, doesn't mean everybody did.
    - reaperducer 1y ago
      I hate to tell you, but a lot of them didn't thrive. Some of them didn't even survive. Citation needed. Maybe we shouldn't pretend that a small number of exceptions are the norm. Nobody is saying that every child had a completely happy childhood. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with not being entertained 100% of the time. Being bored is a good thing. Just because maybe you had a great childhood, doesn't mean everybody did. Let's not look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. I think you're projecting.
      - deleted 1y ago
globnomulous 1y ago
Or read books!
- lupusreal 1y ago
  Read books, and/or knock yourself out with dramamine.
kebokyo 1y ago
I respect the “old person yelling at clouds” disclaimer lmao. Honestly, I got bummed when I found out this was an electric vehicle, I wish there wasn’t a chance for my vehicle to get bricked through an over-the-air update, and I personally would like to have a basic stereo with an aux input just so I can listen to FM stations or Spotify while I haul a bunch of DIY materials around without having to install my own speakers. My friend keeps telling me to get a truck for my next vehicle, and while this truck doesn’t make the cut for me, hopefully future trucks made either by Slate Auto or other manufacturers inspired by them will add juuuust the right amount of creature comforts to win me over.
- the__alchemist 1y ago
  Could you talk us through the over-the-air update concern?

0xdeadbeefbabe 1y ago

The alphabet game still works if you teach them to read.

ethbr1 1y ago

And aside from a window, you know what's better than a car infotainment system? A physical holder for a personal pad device. The amount of not-invented-here, duplicate functionality that car companies execute poorly, when buyers already have devices that do that well, is ridiculous. The biggest benefit of aligning manufacturing costs for profit should be jettisoning the "post-sale" revenue streams that drive complicated built-in tech for current cars. And also, you-know, 100% A+ on getting back to "customize your own car, because it's cheap and supported"! Owners being afraid of doing what they want with their devices/vehicles has to stop.

looofooo0 1y ago
Lol, yes we just throw a phone and a Tablet with headphones to the kids.
- jajko 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
    I'm sure your screenless children are perfect :)
    - tomrod 1y ago
      Aye. It's a staple of both failed and successful parents. In fact, using a screen in a car is wholly unrelated to, well, anything.
      - looofooo0 1y ago
        I mean, probably many assume that we drive around our kids everyday (which we dont) cause they can walk or bike to school. Then that on every small trip they get a phone or tablet (neither true). It is just for 1 hour or more trips which are once a month or less.
FredPret 1y ago
> The amount of not-invented-here, duplicate functionality that car companies execute poorly, when buyers already have devices that do that well, is ridiculous. Like when GM invented their own computer to put into their cars instead of just buying one off the shelf decades ago

tekla 1y ago

Kids will return to imagining Sonic running along the car

ethbr1 1y ago
{insert Sonic ring sound in your head}
RandomBacon 1y ago
I never heard it quite put that way, but yes, I did something very similar.
parpfish 1y ago
you mean "finger-man running on the side of the road and jumping over buildings"? we would've called it parkour if we had known what parkour was back then

avn2109 1y ago

Yes! By far the biggest feature here is "no infotainment" which leads directly to "hard controls for HVAC," that alone is a killer feature! They should double down on that concept and make the truck work perfectly with no apps at all and no OtA updates too.

palata 1y ago
No OTA updates would be a killer. What is the need for OTA updates for an EV, once you remove the autopilot and touch screen? Genuinely interested, I would guess there is none, right?
- ryandrake 1y ago
  Patches and OTA updates just scream "We know ahead of time our product is defective." Arguably OK for software (but I'd argue not), but not even remotely OK for cars.
  - LeafItAlone 1y ago
    >"We know ahead of time our product is defective." All products are defective. Full stop. Cars are necessarily complex and have a lot of software to get the safety, comfortable, and reliability we expect today. Most vehicles get some sort of recall; usually minor. I just checked the NHTSA recall website and every car I could think of owned by people I know (~30 vehicles) had some had some recall. Cars should have an easy way to update. I’m generally against always connected cars (which are the norm today), but there must be some way to patch them. I don’t like the idea of cars having cellular modems in them (my mind goes to nefarious implications), but having a way to securely update it without having to bring to a mechanic would be nice.
    - dlcarrier 1y ago
      >All products are defective. Full stop. Nothing can be made to work over an infinite temperature range, or for an infinite period of time, but a product that can meet its specifications, for its design life, is in no way defective. That happens all the time, for example with electronics: Every component in your computer or phone, down to the smallest resistor and capacitor, has multiple pages of documentation characterizing it's performance, and is individually tested to ensure it meets the stated capabilities. Each trace on the circuit board is tested to make sure it is complete and not shorted to any other trace, and once assembled every component is verified to be correctly installed. This means designs can be proven to always operate within the specifications of every component. This isn't some fancy military-spec process; it's standard operating procedure for petty much every electronics component or assemblies manufacturer. At the volume manufacturing equipment handles, it's much cheaper and easier to automate qualifying and testing everything, at every step, than dealing with the ramifications of manufacturing a bad batch. There are occasional bad parts that do get into the mix, but it's usually a pretty big scandal. From botched industrial espionage leading to a plague of defective electrolytic capacitors in the early 2000's to management pressure at Samsung leading to the release of a defective battery design on Note7 phones, there are occasionally products that should be recalled for defective hardware, but with a design consisting of hundreds to thousands of parts, on almost every phone or laptop ever produced, every component has lasted past the useful life of the product and, except for ware items like batteries and displays, would continue working past the useful life of the human using it. If kept simple, as is doable with an electric drive train, and especially if devoid of non-embedded software (a field which seems to have no interest in error-free designs: https://xkcd.com/2030/ https://xkcd.com/2030/) a recall-free and provably capable vehicle is completely doable.

hylaride 1y ago

> It absolutely does NOT mean those things. I don't personally disagree with you, but today it pretty much does. Anyways, my point is that this is designed as a utilitarian, cheap truck that covers the use case that most pickup trucks are actually utilitarian for, like local farm or light duty construction work. It's got a short range, no entertainment for long drives, etc. The article doesn't even say if it has AC (Slate's site seems to have images that allude to it having it). The OP wants something for families, which exists and costs more because most families want more. They want good, cheap, and available when you can only have two. Even with gas/diesel powered trucks, there's a huge difference between the utilitarian ones construction workers and farmers buy and beat up and the expensive "luxury" quad-cabs that families now buy because minivans are too uncool.

taylodl 1y ago
If you consider a fur baby a family! :) I want something much more utilitarian than what is being pitched to today's families. If you want a Quad Cab, Infotainment systems, and yadda, yadda, yadda - the market already has options. Lots of them. If you want a cheap, light duty truck similar to what a Chevy S10 or a Ford Ranger used to be, then you're pretty much SOL.

hermitcrab 1y ago

>Cars didn't have entertainment systems for nearly a century and families did just fine. ARE WE THERE YET? ... ARE WE THERE YET? ... ARE WE THERE YET?

hn7283 1y ago
[dead]
hyperhopper 1y ago
That was before smartphone and tablets were common

crazygringo 1y ago

> My entertainment system was the window. Observe the world... The world is pretty freaking boring when it's just pavement and the 5,000th time you've passed the same strip mall, gas station, and McDonald's. The same dirty snowbanks on either side of the same gray asphalt under the interminably gray winter sky. Maybe you lived in a place of wonderful natural beauty, or a vibrant urban street culture. A lot of people don't.

reaperducer 1y ago
The world is pretty freaking boring when it's just pavement and the 5,000th time you've passed the same strip mall, gas station, and McDonald's. The same dirty snowbanks on either side of the same gray asphalt under the interminably gray winter sky. And yet, somehow the children survived and thrived. They learned to make up games, to entertain themselves, and to -- perish the thought -- talk to other human beings in their own family! /shudder/
- crazygringo 1y ago
  Did they? I hate to tell you, but a lot of them didn't thrive. Some of them didn't even survive. Some of them didn't have families that particularly want to talk to them. Or when they were spoken to, it wasn't exactly healthy. Just because maybe you had a great childhood, doesn't mean everybody did.
  - reaperducer 1y ago
    I hate to tell you, but a lot of them didn't thrive. Some of them didn't even survive. Citation needed. Maybe we shouldn't pretend that a small number of exceptions are the norm. Nobody is saying that every child had a completely happy childhood. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with not being entertained 100% of the time. Being bored is a good thing. Just because maybe you had a great childhood, doesn't mean everybody did. Let's not look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. I think you're projecting.
    - deleted 1y ago

globnomulous 1y ago

Or read books!

lupusreal 1y ago
Read books, and/or knock yourself out with dramamine.

kebokyo 1y ago

I respect the “old person yelling at clouds” disclaimer lmao. Honestly, I got bummed when I found out this was an electric vehicle, I wish there wasn’t a chance for my vehicle to get bricked through an over-the-air update, and I personally would like to have a basic stereo with an aux input just so I can listen to FM stations or Spotify while I haul a bunch of DIY materials around without having to install my own speakers. My friend keeps telling me to get a truck for my next vehicle, and while this truck doesn’t make the cut for me, hopefully future trucks made either by Slate Auto or other manufacturers inspired by them will add juuuust the right amount of creature comforts to win me over.

the__alchemist 1y ago
Could you talk us through the over-the-air update concern?