Are Cars Just Becoming Giant Smartphones on Wheels?

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Changelin@discuss.tchncs.de⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.carsandhorsepower.com/featured/are-cars-just-becoming-giant-smartphones-on-wheels

For over a century, the automobile has represented freedom, power, and the thrill of mechanical mastery. The connection between driver, machine, and road defined what it meant to own and love a car. But in today’s digital era, a different trend is unfolding. Cars are no longer just machines designed to take us from point A to point B. Increasingly, they resemble something else entirely: smartphones on wheels.

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6nk06@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

the thrill of mechanical mastery

I remember people in the 80s/90s complaining that those pieces of shit were broken all the time. Not anymore IMHO. There was only thrill for a few car enthusiasts.

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IWW4@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
My car is a 2023 and I pretty much by-pass all the integrated tech and use apple Car Play.

Watching people whine about tech in cars has always been comical to me. The first time I heard it was in the 80s and how cruise control was going to make cars unusable eventually.

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phutatorius@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’ll be interesting to see how Slate does, if it makes it to production.

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- CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s DoA. At 20, they kinda make sense. At 27 without the EV credit you could be buying a maverick.
  
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  - blitzen@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Or the fully electric small truck Ford is working on.
    
    As proof of concept, Slate is cool. Up against a vehicle from an actual truck manufacturer, it’s probably a hard sell.
    
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  - grue@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Except the Maverick isn’t an EV. It’s a hybrid, at best.
    
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- FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Their headquarters is down the road from me. I will let you know when the sign no longer lights up. Should be a few days.
  
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- SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It won’t do well. Wrong country.
  
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aesthelete@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Both fit in the same category of unfortunately necessary and terrible goods…so the merger makes sense to me.

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XiberKernel@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I drive a Kia EV6, and love it. Kia pushes like 2 OTAs per year for updates and small bug fixes, but hasn’t rolled out any new features. They have a premium connectivity package, but nothing but remote bells and whistles are behind it.

I use my phone for the infotainment via CarPlay.

My phone acts like a phone, and my car acts like a car.

Now, the reason I have an EV6? I was a happy Chevy Bolt owner looking for a newer vehicle and was eyeing the Equinox EV. I noped out as soon as they announced the Google partnership and decided to remove CarPlay and BYOD as a feature.

The two things that will turn me off from a future purchase is lack of CarPlay, or paywalled “hardware” upgrades, like performance tweaks or locking out something installed like heated seats. Nope.

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