Software defined vehicles - Good idea?

[igor_kavinski]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1546979745035862016

Wife: What was that loud noise???

Husband: Sorry, honey! I forgot to initialize a variable! Umm...I may have to take the car in for repairs.

 

[dullard]

I personally hate monthly bills. I try to keep them as few as reasonably possible. If I can buy something outright to end a monthly bill, I absolutely will. For example, I buy my internet modem for $60 one time and then can skip paying $5/month for life ($60/year and will likely only go up).

So, I hate the idea. Why would I want to pay "in the thousands of dollars" for something that costs "hundreds of dollars"? Why would I want the hassle of paying monthly? Why would I want the risk of credit problems or worse if a bill gets delayed in the mail? Etc. This is purely a play for suckers who think "low monthly payments" are good ideas.

Thus, I will only buy cars without subscriptions until I have to give up owning cars.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Yeah, more and more they will put essential stuff into the subscription tier and then people will have no choice but to pay. The internet has got all the sleazeball executives really excited coz they get to dream up new ways to get bonuses and provide "value" to their companies.

 

[HoleInTheEarth]

Such a horrible, horrible idea and just a way to screw customers over.

The future of cars is a subscription nightmare

Most customers hate having to pay recurring fees.

www.theverge.com

 

[igor_kavinski]

What happens if the subscription expires in the middle of a drive? Car comes to a stop with message "Sorry. Subsciption expired. You can no longer use this feature until the subscription is renewed". And this happens in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not a fan of this crap at all. The last thing I want is to have to pay monthly to use something I already paid a fortune on. But this is all part of the big agenda. You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.

 

[HoleInTheEarth]

What happens if the subscription expires in the middle of a drive? Car comes to a stop with message "Sorry. Subsciption expired. You can no longer use this feature until the subscription is renewed". And this happens in the middle of nowhere.

The real issue is that software is never bug free. Having so much rely on subscriptions and additional software, instead of hardware, is just begging for real issues and most likely frequent mass "recalls".

 

[BudAshes]

"Please deposit 2999.99 for the latest GPS updates in the next 29 minutes or you will be deposited into the Grand Canyon. Thank you."

 

[nakedfrog]

What happens if the subscription expires in the middle of a drive? Car comes to a stop with message "Sorry. Subsciption expired. You can no longer use this feature until the subscription is renewed". And this happens in the middle of nowhere.

People already have issues with Gig Cars in the Seattle area sometimes when they take them to state/national parks out here and there's spotty signal, so they have trouble getting it to start up for their return trip.

 

[Captante]

I've made my position clear... I don't want any "subscription" in a car that I pay for and own... when I select options in my car I'll pay for them and then they're MINE. (not yours BMW)

Further I don't want systems in my vehicle in any way connected to anything online where I'm not 100% in control of the "off-switch".

Don't get me wrong... I welcome the ability to update the software in a car via a USB or similar removeable drive, however allowing an "always-on" connection into vital systems like steering, throttle and brakes in real-time is a 100% non-starter for me.

 

[nakedfrog]

I already abhor all these cars that have a giant tablet-style interface, this is yet another step in a terrible direction. I'm just hoping I can keep my current TDI going to 200,000 miles and beyond, convert my Miata to electric, and call it good. Fuck all this new car shit, fuck it so hard. I drove a 2022 Jeep for a week this past May and disliked basically everything about it except the proximity indicators in the side view mirrors, if I could retrofit those, they're a nice convenience (I still turned my head to look before executing a lane change because I'm not a dummy).

 

[snoopy7548]

"Honey, the brakes don't seem to be working."
"Shit, I forgot to pay this month's brake bill. Quick! Drink a can of Mountain Dew and make sure the camera sees it. That should get us a few seconds of braking."

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Rent seeking, pure and simple. If we had appropriate consumer protection laws it'd be illegal.

 

[nakedfrog]

Rent seeking, pure and simple. If we had appropriate consumer protection laws it'd be illegal.

No, no, no, this is all about giving consumers options.

 

[snoopy7548]

No, no, no, this is all about giving consumers options.

I agree. This only helps the consumer. Why pay $500 for permanent heated seats when you can pay $50/month only when you need it? And if times are tough, you can easily trim your expenses by removing unnecessary features like power windows, air conditioning, steering wheel controls, and tire pressure monitoring.

 

[sdifox]

At that point I may as well pay a monthly fee and just have a municipal self drive car wait to pick me up when I schedule.

 

[MtnMan]

I already abhor all these cars that have a giant tablet-style interface, this is yet another step in a terrible direction. I'm just hoping I can keep my current TDI going to 200,000 miles and beyond, convert my Miata to electric, and call it good. Fuck all this new car shit, fuck it so hard. I drove a 2022 Jeep for a week this past May and disliked basically everything about it except the proximity indicators in the side view mirrors, if I could retrofit those, they're a nice convenience (I still turned my head to look before executing a lane change because I'm not a dummy).

I've got 250,000 miles on my TDI, and I expect another 100,000 minimum.
The more I read about crap like BMW is pulling, makes me like my TDI even more, not to mention that the average MPG for the first 250K is 52.3 miles/gallon.

Wouldn't surprise me that anything not mandated by law will become subscription based, from sound system, auto dim mirrors, cruise control, both adaptive and non-adaptive.

Of course, we are talking about BMW drivers here, that buy a car that includes "fake engine noise" through the speakers, so they don't have to make it when they shift gears.

 

[Captante]

I already abhor all these cars that have a giant tablet-style interface, this is yet another step in a terrible direction. I'm just hoping I can keep my current TDI going to 200,000 miles and beyond, convert my Miata to electric, and call it good. Fuck all this new car shit, fuck it so hard. I drove a 2022 Jeep for a week this past May and disliked basically everything about it except the proximity indicators in the side view mirrors, if I could retrofit those, they're a nice convenience (I still turned my head to look before executing a lane change because I'm not a dummy).

Another example of "trendy" but in reality $hitty (and lazy) design.

That sort of thing will be okay when everyone has reliable self-driving cars but in the real world now ANY control you need to look at to operate it in a moving car is a really bad idea.

Touch-screens with multi-layer menus and near-critical controls/settings buried several taps deep that the driver is INTENDED to operate while driving are just plain stupid.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That's another trend I hate, they seem to be putting everything on touch screens now days on newer cars. It will be a while until that affects me as I tend to buy 10+ year old cars but eventually it will.

Not only is it unintuitive, but what happens if that LCD stops working. I bet it's like over a grand to replace that as it's probably an entire module. Normally if something like that breaks you can just do without it, but if it's literally the only way to use main functions of the car then you don't have much choice to replace it.

 

[pmv]

What happens if the subscription expires in the middle of a drive? Car comes to a stop with message "Sorry. Subsciption expired. You can no longer use this feature until the subscription is renewed". And this happens in the middle of nowhere.

Or the car still goes but you are informed that your brakes and headlights have been disabled till you renew your subscription for them.

 

[brianmanahan]

finally what i learned in CS101 will be useful!

class Car implements Vehicle {

    @Override
    public void start() {
        System.out.println("vroom");
    }

}

 

[pmv]

When are gun-manufacturers going to get with the program? And arms manufacturers in general? Spree-shooters have to stop mid-spree becuase their AR15 subscription has expired? Invasions grind to a halt because someone at the DoD forgot to renew the subscription for the tanks?

 

[Red Squirrel]

When are gun-manufacturers going to get with the program? And arms manufacturers in general? Spree-shooters have to stop mid-spree becuase their AR15 subscription has expired? Invasions grind to a halt because someone at the DoD forgot to renew the subscription for the tanks?

It needs to have clippy built in as well.

"It looks like you're trying to shoot up a school! Your subscription currently does not allow to use your hardware for this purpose, would you like to look at available subscription packages?"

Meanwhile the police are outside waiting for their portable radio updates to come through.

 

[dank69]

"You've used up all your miles. Would you like to purchase more?"

 

[nakedfrog]

I've got 250,000 miles on my TDI, and I expect another 100,000 minimum.
The more I read about crap like BMW is pulling, makes me like my TDI even more, not to mention that the average MPG for the first 250K is 52.3 miles/gallon.

Wouldn't surprise me that anything not mandated by law will become subscription based, from sound system, auto dim mirrors, cruise control, both adaptive and non-adaptive.

Of course, we are talking about BMW drivers here, that buy a car that includes "fake engine noise" through the speakers, so they don't have to make it when they shift gears.

It's not just BMW with fake engine noises anymore, Ford and Toyota do it on some vehicles now, I'm not sure who else.