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Tesla, Ford, Amazon Hint At Cloudy Future For Cars
Nerval's Lobster writes "The automobile, once the most analog of technologies, is rapidly becoming a smartphone on wheels: Amazon announced Feb. 13 that Ford SYNC Applink-equipped vehicles will include the Amazon Cloud Player, allowing drivers to access their music libraries via voice command or dashboard controls. Ford isn't the only automotive company seeking to integrate cloud computing into the driving experience. Tesla Motors' Model S electric sedan boasts a 17-inch capacitive touch-screen in place of the usual dashboard buttons and dials. And who could forget Google's self-driving car? This isn't a future everybody wants—there are more than a few wannabe Steve McQueens who won't feel complete unless they can stomp on a pedal connected to an internal-combustion engine, flick a physical dashboard knob to the radio station of their choice, and peel out their driveway in a cloud of burning rubber. But as the latest technology migrates into automobiles, it could well be the future we're going to receive."
it doesnt move depending on what mode my screen is in or require me to look to change the volume
To be honest I would trust amazon more than the average driver.
The main issue is probably privacy, but the internet is doing a good
job of getting rid of that anyway.
Except most of the manufacturers won't want to expend the effort to keep their old products up-to-date. Look forward to drive-by hackings of your buggy car firmware. And new web technologies relegating your $60k+ car to the status of a 5 year old PC.
It already costs a good amount to get, for example, a basic replacement temperature control knob thing, whatever the hell the proper name for it is. I don't want to know what a 17" touchscreen will cost, even a decade into the future, just to get your fan/heater/AC controls working again. I really do not like the way cars are heading; even without the cost, who says I want all this bullshit? Seriously, the more computerized they make cars, the more revolting they get.
Entirely unrelated: the more digital cars get the more unreliable they will become.
You realize cars have been almost completely computer-controlled for about a decade? Digital isn't to be equated with unreliable, bad design is.
The most common vehicle in 10 years will be the autonomous Dodge caravan, taxiing us all around.
You are dreaming. Actually, it's not a dream, it's a nightmare that only an idiot
would want to see come true.
In ten years people will be driving cars which are much the same as they are now.
the fuck i'll be sharing a car with most of you... you are SLOBS. your cars are NASTY. from smoking to food to children to trash to just plain nasty people. disgusting is a good 25% of the cars on the road.
A minor lesson i learned back when i was a kid i worked at a carwash for a year... and the nasty gross disgusting interiors i saw... from people who were paying $20-40 for a complete car service. These weren't broke mofos living in their cars... no. These were the middle and upper class folks.
no way am i sharing a car with any of those people. nope. you can't make me.
Road deaths happen mostly to idiots and whomever they hit, and this is cleaning the gene
There fixed.
On another note, how about we start this cleansing with you?
... whatever
The biggest problem I see with these systems is very rapid obsolescence. You'll generally replace a phone or tablet a lot more often than a car. There should be a standard port to attach a tablet to and the car manufacturer can offer software for all the major platforms, or you can choose to use something else. Instead we seem to be getting a bunch of built in tablets running code that we have no control over and can't replace. Is anybody sorting this out?
It's not just the touchscreen either as it'll be a whole assembly, which certainly will not scale in the consumer's favor 10 years after the car was built.
I am an experienced mechanic who loves old cars. Your post is bullshit.
Those cars were simple, pretty, unreliable, maintenance-intensive, and did a fine job of killing their passengers in a crash. Their brakes were garbage (front drums, single master cylinders) which is why brake shops in mountainous areas were a common sight.
Your post is nonsense and deserves no respect. I grew up working on those rides. It's no accident that many modern owners update them so they actually steer and stop.
Feature bloat is not necessary, but sells cars. I can and do work on my modern vehicles and don't pay anyone else to wrench them. The way to repair modern vehicles reasonably is the same as ever. Use good parts from salvage with a few new bits as needed. I've built many cars and trucks for a used car lot where we did this. It's standard. I'd rather bolt on factory parts as assemblies to save time and labor, so salvage rules.
I'm disgusted with "mechanics" who won't learn modern systems. Modern hot rodders take full advantage of improved ignition control and fuel management, so there is no excuse for snivelling.
Modern CNC production methods are what make TODAY the new Golden Age of performance. It's cheaper and easier to maintain your beloved antiques than ever before. The aftermarket has plenty of support for whatever you want to do.
I'd get off your lawn but I can't find it and suspect it's located in Atlantis.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."