Cars are getting dumber [video]

youtube.com

17 points·awnird··4 comments

If you're here, you may enjoy my recent rendering of a "Hyper-Realistic 2037 Concept Car Interior":

[1] https://taylor.town/stupid-touchscreen

The design language of modern cars is bad in a consistent and unique way. I think this video does a good job of naming some of the quirks, but what I really want to know is what incentives cause all of this.

It's kind of like how Windows and Apple both have particular types of errors I expect at this point. I can make some guesses about why those companies are willing to compromise on quality in certain areas. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the car industry makes its decisions.

Less parts at same price is pure profit. Minimal cockpit is maximizing revenue. Late stage capitalism, the importance of the customer breaks down, as philosophical monopolies squeeze more shareholder value out of ever worser products. Would be interesting to see what happens if someone were to reignite competition.

But as hinted before, the sector is a oligopoly at the owner level.

I drive a 2023 Mazda 6 wagon. My software engineer colleague who’s much younger than me rode with me. He said that the interior is really nice but he found the lack of a large touchscreen very dated.

I was puzzled. I said I specifically chose it for the lack of the big touchscreen.

The normal person today equates that with progress; it’s just me who hates that.

The problem is that he bought a Hyundai. They are deeply flawed in terms of reliability and safety, and that's how the company saves money. Problem solved.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com