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Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs automaker dash for affordable cars (www.reuters.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yes, the absolute basic required technology to make it road legal, physical switches and either physical gauges or a non-touch screen for gauges if that's cheaper.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Physical switches > screens. It's much harder to develop the muscle memory for a screen. I don't have to look away from the road with switches.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Absolutely, they're so much better

[–] [email protected] 43 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The reason everything is on a touch screen now is that it's cheaper than physical switches, as ridiculous as that seems. And yes, I greatly prefer physical switches.

Buy and wire multiple switches on every car, requiring wiring harnesses, ECM IO pins etc. or pay an intern a minimal sum once so he can put "designed Chevrolet in-dash console" on his resume. Then never update it even though it supports OTA updates and is a glitchy mess, Chevy

This is the same reason so many products come with a stupid Bluetooth app now rather than more than one button. Pay once rather than pay on every unit.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hmm. In that case, physical buttons is the one luxury I'd pay a premium for.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Maybe something like the SEXY buttons for Teslas actually become a more common thing. Wireless buttons that you can stick almost anywhere you want and set up to control what you want.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Wireless implies batteries. Hell no.

IIRC one of the issues with the 737 Max was that it had wireless internal components whose lithium ion batteries could catch fire. If you can't even get batteries right on a product constantly maintained by a professional crew, what are the odds of it working out well in a car?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

If it's BLE, it could last years on a coincell battery. I don't find that to be a problem if it can give a warning in advance of running out.