Connect and infotainment must be firewalled from the engine computer for security reasons. It’s not like two raspberry pis are that expensive.

I hate that. If I live in the country, my car spies on me. If I live in the city everyone spies on me. One value I agree with the libertarians on is, I just want to be left alone.

Personally I’m not very keen on owning a vehicle the manufacturer can completely brick at will

I assume GP meant cars with internet connectivity features, not (real) self driving tech.

Cupra Born in aus, same thing here haha

Though it means connected charging via API stuff doesn’t work. Not that it’s mattered to me!

Typically, yes. Although I chalk much of that up to traditional ICE companies being extremely slow to adopt new technology and implementating it poorly or only superficially.

Not really, they are just newer than the average ICE car. Parent wants an EV from the early 2000s or the 1990s.

Ah yes, the previously-marketed $20,000 Slate which is actually $30,000 now, still comes with nothing, and hasn't hit production yet. If only BYD could come in and destroy the non-smart/budget EV market.

Jesus Christ... this entire thing looks like such a far-fetched dream to me. I am worried for the VCs that dumped their money into this idea.

Did the new Leaf get dumber? I have an old 2019 model and it’s connected. In the mobile app I see its location, turn on AC etc.

Does Nissan still not put telematics in the base model in 2026?

Looking at the specs page the base model includes "Dual 12.3" widescreen displays" Why? What the hell is wrong with modern cars?

Does Nissan still air cool their batteries or have they wised up?

They often have eSIMs I think, but (depending probably on the car) pulling the modem's fuse can be safe. That's the case for the VW ID.4 at least.

Depending on the TV, it will still kick you to their bloated “smart” interface all the time, instead of just simply cycling through inputs.

A few years ago it came out that one of the manufacturers (my hunch is Samsung but I don't remember the specifics) had their "smart" tvs aggressively try connecting to any and all networks it can find in range, if you didn't connect it to one.

I reluctantly bought an LG with webOS (least bad option available) a couple of years ago. For some reason they weren't content to let the TV menu/remote work with up/down/left/right buttons.

That's too fucking predictable, and anyone who's used a tv in the last 2 decades could use it....

Let's give it a fucking nipple, just like those horrific fucking IBM/Lenovo laptops.

Then of course it also tries to "help" by detecting HDR content and change view mode... while something is playing.... which makes the screen go black for several seconds.

The business case is that I will actually buy it. I won't buy "consumer electronics" garbage when I want to buy safe and reliable transportation.

The business case is the same as every “dumb” device since the dawn of time, up until maybe 10 years ago.

Sell and product with enough margin to make money. Don’t sell it at or below cost, then spy on your users and sell them to the real customers, the advertisers.

“Dumb” stuff has a very simple and honest business model. Market the cars by exposing what every other car brand is actually doing.

The case is that you’ll sell more cars giving people options. Slate is bucking the trend, we’ll see if successful.

Other car companies fucked it up is funny way to put it. Tesla hasn’t made a new car in a decade and the whole lineup is for my 80-year old Dad. I have 2014 Tesla S, my neighbour 2025, same car. Tesla X is from a decade ago, Tesla 3 is basically Toyota Corolla and Y is basically Model 3 that was pumped up a bit to look like a “crossover”