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There's a fortune to be made for whomever produces a car that has minimal features, and and electric-drivetrain with onboard gasoline generator. No screens, kn

There's a fortune to be made for whomever produces a car that has minimal features, and and electric-drivetrain with onboard gasoline generator. No screens, knobs and buttons, no assists. Extra fortune if you can licence designs and revive some of the old-and-loved classics with new safety features.

bdamm 5mo ago
Well, Bollinger Motors tried just that, but they couldn't make it fly. However, you now have a chance to buy one of the rare prototypes! https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/bollinger-motors-auction-fleet-electric-190025785.html https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/bollin...
Mathnerd314 5mo ago
It is probably like with smart TV's where the value of the telemetry data ends up subsidizing a significant fraction of the hardware. Car manufacturers seem to be doing a lot of experiments with what they can charge for in terms of ongoing subscriptions. I am sure if they could show ads without it being considered distracting they would.
bobro 5mo ago
I think the problem is there isn't a fortune there. It would be a successful endeavor, but not something to rake in huge piles of cash. The kinds of leaders and investors who could pull off what you're describing are instead working where they can make multi-millions rather that multi-hundreds of thousands.
mdasen 5mo ago
> electric-drivetrain with onboard gasoline generator Generally speaking, it's more efficient to power a car using a series-parallel hybrid system than an electric drivetrain with generator (series hybrid) while not really being any more complicated. In a series hybrid (electric with generator), you're losing energy converting the rotational energy into electric energy. It's better to use the engine's output to power the wheels while it's in an efficient range. It's why Toyota's series-parallel hybrid design offered better mileage than vehicles that (primarily or fully) operated as series hybrids like the Chevy Volt. > No screens You can't really sell a car without a screen due to government regulations which require backup cameras (since 2018 in North America, since 2022 in the EU and Japan). > no assists Automatic Emergency Braking is going to be required in the US in 2029 (detecting frontal crashes about to happen and automatically braking, including pedestrian detection). The EU requires even more including blind spot detection and lane-keeping assist. I certainly agree that cars need knobs and buttons for controls like AC/heat, music, etc. However, it'd be hard to make a car where you aren't putting in a screen and assistive technology. I think a better argument would be to make a car where the screen was simply Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and a backup camera - rather than shoving a lot of garbage UX into it.
- ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
  > Automatic Emergency Braking is going to be required in the US in 2029 (detecting frontal crashes about to happen and automatically braking, including pedestrian detection). I'm never going to want to drive a car that has that.
  - ssl-3 5mo ago
    I guess you know your cutoff date, then. My own perspective differs. A couple of years ago, I was involved in a stupid car crash that probably would have been prevented by this kind of system. Everyone was pretty much OK (yay), but both vehicles were ruined. And for me, at least, it was a complete and utter pain in the ass to find something else to drive that fit my intended use. 0/10. Would rather be annoyed by false positives.
  - advisedwang 5mo ago
    Why? You presumably don't enjoy get into frontal crashes, are you worried about it doing false positives? Is that a significant issue?
    - ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
      Because I don't want anything in the vehicle apart from me deciding when I should brake.
      - advisedwang 5mo ago
        So if you get into a crash, you would rather not have an extra few hundred milliseconds of deceleration? You would rather have more costly repairs, more injuries, maybe even more liability? I just don't see what you get in exchange for that by avoiding these features, or what principal is at stake
        ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
        What crash? My car already has this awesome safety feature called a "windscreen". It's a bit of thick glass about a metre and a half across, kind of like the screens that cars now have inside but here's the clever bit - it lets you look outside the car! It's completely transparent with no electronics (although mine has very fine wires embedded to heat it to clear ice off, that's not really "active" in any sense). By looking out of this "windscreen" at other things in front of your car, you can prevent crashes.
hoppyhoppy2 5mo ago
A screen for the back-up camera is federally required for new cars in the US, afaik. But using the screen for additional purposes is still optional... for now...
merpkz 5mo ago
There is no way that is true, basic cars have always existed, like Dacia with bare minimum features to pass all requirements and they are far from being popular. The fact of the matter is, is that people just like fancy things and cars especially
- SoftTalker 5mo ago
  The vast majority of car buyers know nothing more than "right pedal to go, left pedal to stop, turn wheel to steer" They never read the owner's manual, they never touch the options menus, they never even check the oil or tire pressure. They certainly are not going to mess with fuses or disabling anything.

bdamm 5mo ago

Well, Bollinger Motors tried just that, but they couldn't make it fly. However, you now have a chance to buy one of the rare prototypes! https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/bollinger-motors-auction-fleet-electric-190025785.html https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/bollin...

Mathnerd314 5mo ago

It is probably like with smart TV's where the value of the telemetry data ends up subsidizing a significant fraction of the hardware. Car manufacturers seem to be doing a lot of experiments with what they can charge for in terms of ongoing subscriptions. I am sure if they could show ads without it being considered distracting they would.

bobro 5mo ago

I think the problem is there isn't a fortune there. It would be a successful endeavor, but not something to rake in huge piles of cash. The kinds of leaders and investors who could pull off what you're describing are instead working where they can make multi-millions rather that multi-hundreds of thousands.

mdasen 5mo ago

> electric-drivetrain with onboard gasoline generator Generally speaking, it's more efficient to power a car using a series-parallel hybrid system than an electric drivetrain with generator (series hybrid) while not really being any more complicated. In a series hybrid (electric with generator), you're losing energy converting the rotational energy into electric energy. It's better to use the engine's output to power the wheels while it's in an efficient range. It's why Toyota's series-parallel hybrid design offered better mileage than vehicles that (primarily or fully) operated as series hybrids like the Chevy Volt. > No screens You can't really sell a car without a screen due to government regulations which require backup cameras (since 2018 in North America, since 2022 in the EU and Japan). > no assists Automatic Emergency Braking is going to be required in the US in 2029 (detecting frontal crashes about to happen and automatically braking, including pedestrian detection). The EU requires even more including blind spot detection and lane-keeping assist. I certainly agree that cars need knobs and buttons for controls like AC/heat, music, etc. However, it'd be hard to make a car where you aren't putting in a screen and assistive technology. I think a better argument would be to make a car where the screen was simply Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and a backup camera - rather than shoving a lot of garbage UX into it.

ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
> Automatic Emergency Braking is going to be required in the US in 2029 (detecting frontal crashes about to happen and automatically braking, including pedestrian detection). I'm never going to want to drive a car that has that.
- ssl-3 5mo ago
  I guess you know your cutoff date, then. My own perspective differs. A couple of years ago, I was involved in a stupid car crash that probably would have been prevented by this kind of system. Everyone was pretty much OK (yay), but both vehicles were ruined. And for me, at least, it was a complete and utter pain in the ass to find something else to drive that fit my intended use. 0/10. Would rather be annoyed by false positives.
- advisedwang 5mo ago
  Why? You presumably don't enjoy get into frontal crashes, are you worried about it doing false positives? Is that a significant issue?
  - ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
    Because I don't want anything in the vehicle apart from me deciding when I should brake.
    - advisedwang 5mo ago
      So if you get into a crash, you would rather not have an extra few hundred milliseconds of deceleration? You would rather have more costly repairs, more injuries, maybe even more liability? I just don't see what you get in exchange for that by avoiding these features, or what principal is at stake
      - ErroneousBosh 5mo ago
        What crash? My car already has this awesome safety feature called a "windscreen". It's a bit of thick glass about a metre and a half across, kind of like the screens that cars now have inside but here's the clever bit - it lets you look outside the car! It's completely transparent with no electronics (although mine has very fine wires embedded to heat it to clear ice off, that's not really "active" in any sense). By looking out of this "windscreen" at other things in front of your car, you can prevent crashes.

hoppyhoppy2 5mo ago

A screen for the back-up camera is federally required for new cars in the US, afaik. But using the screen for additional purposes is still optional... for now...

merpkz 5mo ago

There is no way that is true, basic cars have always existed, like Dacia with bare minimum features to pass all requirements and they are far from being popular. The fact of the matter is, is that people just like fancy things and cars especially

SoftTalker 5mo ago
The vast majority of car buyers know nothing more than "right pedal to go, left pedal to stop, turn wheel to steer" They never read the owner's manual, they never touch the options menus, they never even check the oil or tire pressure. They certainly are not going to mess with fuses or disabling anything.