John Deere cough cough

Shit as a Subscription

The simplicity of the Slate interior is fantastic. They developed a screenless touch screen that you can rotate without even looking at them. I wish I were in the market for this type of vehicle.

Interior photo

Kind of disappointing Bezos is involved though.

2016 is still a good year as most of the connected tech isn't supported anymore as it's on the 3g network.

IMO cars peaked around 2015

Interiors looked really nice and you had analog dials etc. Wish some small screens, just enough.

Today it's just big plastic dashboard with cheap tablets stuck in them

Eh, my early 9th gen civic is nice, though I think they ruined it only like coupla years later with cell radios.

My 2014 Crosstrek is fine. Doesn't even have eyesight.

This is why I ordered a Slate.

Archive link to an FAQ for the Slate electric trucklette that claims no sim cards and minimum digital bits. No clue if it will be a good vehicle so don't take this as an endorsement. https://archive.ph/PMKpC

Anyone know other options?

You mean, like the car that I drive currently? It’s pretty tough to picture, honestly.

Have they ever made an electric car that didn't have that fucking SHIT ?

a 40k-50k USD phone.

Volkswagen is so bad at this! They have phone connectivity but they bog down the infotainment with they're own crap software. The GPS is so bad it slowes down the whole system. I will never use vw maps. Ever. Just stop!

And Chevy just doesn't have android auto on or apple play on their lower trim levels. But they do compensate by integrating Google maps at least.

Kia is the best though. Minimal proprietary software. Plug your phone in and android auto automatically comes up.

No need for data grabbing AA/Carplay shit in my car, stock ui works superior. But give people the option

In Europe, not having a car generally is perfectly fine

In cities.

For those living in the countryside, not really, as distances are huge and public transport is rare (think a single bus that stops at a bus station a km or two away and passes maybe once every 2h) or non-existent.

That said, over 70% of people in Europe live in urban areas.

Compared to walking or riding a horse they are freedom. They cost a lot, but also enable a lot.

i wish we had transit here, but that doesn't mean cars are not freedom. Even in europe most people drive.

Since building an internal combustion engine that complies with the regulation, is fuel efficient and fast is really difficult for them since they lack the century of experience that the other manufacturers have.

My 2c:

You're right they are going to become the EV king, but its not because they lack experience making ICE engines. Chinese vehicles with ICE engines are being sold on the European market and have been sold there for a while now. They weren't able to out compete other manufacturers on the EU market because other brands have been well established and their lower prices were not significant enough. What I mean is: you aren't going to disrupt a well established and saturated market with the same product.

The shift to EV presented an opportunity of equal ground on the EU market, in fact on worldwide markets. Domestic makers were not fast enough to adapt and so Tesla was able to gain a significant portion at the start. Other makers caught up soon but weren't able to offer EV cars for the same prices as they traditionally did ICE cars. Now you have an unsaturated market with highly priced products. Chinese companies can exploit that. They don't even have to disrupt any markets, they just need to enter them. Demand is there, supply is lackluster.

Its also an opportunity for new companies to start up and start picking at the old guard of 50+ year old car manufacturers. This is where you're right. New companies don't need to develop an ICE because its complex and difficult, making an EV is easier. Its just ironic the old car companies weren't able to adapt. Was it their old ways? Bureaucracy? Oil investments? I don't know.

I don't think that's the reason. China makes tons of aftermarket replacement parts and even OEM parts.

But you will spend 1500 bucks replacing everything else on the car.

Also cars have plenty of buttons.

No engine control module in that thing?

You can turn a lot of this stuff off. Still. Most of the driver assistant stuff is optional still.

In another few years? Probably not. They will probably change insurance policies to hold you liable if you drive without it.

Yeah, don’t buy an HP. Love my Brother laser printer though.

So the slate has a market after all