Electric Vehicles EVs

Snap! I have the same one.

Flying Carrot ftw.

Nissan app also useful if you are the idiot who forgets which parking zone you left the car in at Stansted airport.

Ha, I forgot where our car was parked at Center Parcs. Other half was not impressed as we wandered round the car park in the dark carrying an exhausted toddler.

But it's got to be so much cheaper to buy and install the same touch screen for all models than fit buttons.

A touch screen requires a software team, with the associated costs that brings. Over the lifetime of a vehicle, I'd think buttons are a lot, lot cheaper to install and maintain.

We bottled it and went for a grey one, due next week.

And you think that's being passed to us?

That sounds like a future problem for someone else.

There must already be established software teams, so would it not be expanding the UI parts of those teams?

I guess my rational is that they've been in an inbetween stage where there wear the cost of manual interface and software interface. They can reduce the software, but they can reduce the physical buttons and wiring.

No, but why would it?

a colleague had a fault with the touchscreen dash on his car recently and had to have it replaced.
done under warranty, but he was told it was costing £9k

annoyingly can't remember 100% which car it is, but i'm fairly sure it's a nissan ariya

There must already be established software teams, so would it not be expanding the UI parts of those teams?

Reader, I lol'd.

Car makers pretty much committed to having a touchscreen in every car maybe a decade ago. Once you have one, any functionality you can move to it is 100% cost saving.

(Though I think the Tesla-driven fashion for minimalist interiors is probably also as important as cost)

The increase in software needed for today's cars is exponential. I was reading something this week which estimates that there will soon be a billion lines of code in a car. Up until ten years ago, cars were almost entirely mechanical and the incumbent manufacturers have struggled enormously with this change in how they are built, which is why the likes of the Chinese manufacturers have gained such a large share of the market in a relatively short space of time.

Upcoming legislation, especially in the EU, will mean that the manufacturer will have to maintain and update that software for a minimum of five years after the date it's sold, so modern vehicles are becoming more akin to a data centre on wheels, maintained by a devops team.

incumbent manufacturers have struggled enormously

It doesn't help that they all relay on a hugely complex supply chain of different component manufacturers to build their cars. Bosch modules for this and that, Siemens for others etc. It means they're super reliant on those suppliers to update their modules and work with them to deliver consolidated changes to the cars.

One of the smartest things Tesla did (though I'm pretty certain is was just to save a couple of $) was to get off the shelf parts and write their own integrations which means they own the end to end code across the entire car. It's why they're so successful at updating the cars capabilities and rolling out regular OTA updates.

Our MG4 went in for an update the other day because the lane keep assist was trying to assist us into oncoming cars and they updates 5 separate modules but not the infotainment etc. It's not coherent and they can't do it OTA.

Ha!

As a layperson, my assumption was that slide your finger this way to turn volume/heating up, or display results from speed sensor here, would be relatively simple and easy to copy from somewhere. Whereas all the engine management and emissions control feel like more complex and unique logic.

I think my wife preferred the green colour of the hot hatch edition, sadly wasn’t offered on her salary sacrifice scheme.

Being a designer of ICE components must feel like a dinosaur watching the comet coming but knowing exactly what the comet represents and seeing it approach from about 10 years away.

"No I agree this fuel injection system is one of the best you've done but can you code motherfucker?"

They shouldn't panic, @dammit will probably fund the entire ICE industry for the foreseeable...

Fuel injection has been computerised since catalytic converters became required in 1990-ish.

Cars becoming networks of computer modules started long before they started wedging Android tablets into the dashboard.

Being a designer of ICE components must feel like a dinosaur watching the comet coming but knowing exactly what the comet represents and seeing it approach from about 10 years away.

wait until you hear about artificial intelligence

Hasn't NCAP just said that fewer buttons will lead to to lower safety ratings?

Yup. They called out indicator stalks specifically but I imagine they will have a list of key functions that require buttons / levers etc in order to get 5 stars. Indicators, horn, wipers, hazards etc.

Don't think they'll start legislating to bring back AC buttons or media controls.

indicator stalks

Which cars have indicators on the touch screen?

horn

Not convinced by that one. Don't think I've pressed mine in years.

New Tesla Model S, X and Model 3 have indicators on the steering wheel.

They have no stalks for any controls.

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