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Comment by tjansen | Hacker News Reader

Not sure about other regions, but in the EU, low tech cars are not allowed.

Required safety systems include emergency breaking, emergency lane-keeping, intelligent speed assistance (car must use cameras or GPS to determine current speed limit), driver attention warning systems and many more.

That fancy screen is really not a cost factor. These days you can buy after-market screens with Car Play and Android auto support for 100 EURs or less. But all the safety systems needs lots of sensors, and also the ability to auto-brake and auto-steer in emergency situations.

https://bmdv.bund.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/...

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> Not sure about other regions, but in the EU, low tech cars are not allowed.

Which is a rather recent development and certainly a protectionist move and will hinder adaptation massively.

You need the full suite for lane controls, attention monitoring, emergency brake systems, etc...

It is simply impossible to now release low tech cars and it is a political decision by the EU that is highly questionable.

Yeah, so called "Vision Zero": "The EU’s long-term goal is to move as close as possible to zero fatalities in road transport by 2050"

https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/publications/eu-road-safety-towar...

It's a good start, but a grander vision would be to reduce or eliminate the need for cars altogether. You can build and sustain a mighty civilization without automobiles at all.

Per Poi Dog Pondering:

Well the ancient Egyptians and the other Africans

The Mayans, the Incas, and all the Polynesians

All around the world, a long long time ago

People would walk wherever they had to go

Europe has generally done a very good job with urban transit. The real problem is that long-distance train trips cost a fortune, typically several times more than a budget airline. And ticketing systems between countries (within the EU) are poorly integrated.

Despite many years of hand-wringing about environmental impacts of air travel, almost nothing has been done to address this.

Agreed. Electric cars are frankly a pretty poor solution to the issue of carbon emissions. A far better, more long term solution already exists - high density, walkable neighbourhoods and high frequency, well run public transport systems.

Here in the UK, almost 17% (about nine million people) live outside towns and villages. A trip to the local shop can be several miles on roads that don't have pavements and public transport is of the "one bus a day" type if you are lucky. There are a few people who cycle but they're dedicated and for most it is not an option. Cars are an essential.

As I understand it, that’s not _strictly_ true. 17% live in “rural” areas, but this includes towns and villages in rural areas. It’s 8% for “rural village and fringe” [0], or much less for actually outside of towns and villages. Unless you have other stats to share?

[0] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/661d3b95ac3da...

I have lived in several towns and cities in the UK.

The problem is that even in reasonable sized towns not having a car is very limiting. The solution is much better public transport - more frequent is the big thing. That is the difference

On the other hand I did not have a car in London (which has very frequent public transport until quite late in the night), nor in Manchester (not as good, but OK) until I had a child. It was no problem. paying for the occasional taxi and hiring cars for trips when needed was a lot cheaper than running a car and more convenient too.

There is no way to provide a public transport service from the village 9 miles away with 4,000 people to my village of 150 at 2145 on a Friday night. It would have to literally be a taxi going out and back to transport one person.

E-bikes to the rescue!

If you’re fine with having the same QoL as the people living in those societies then sure… why would anyone want to though?

> People would walk wherever they had to go

Or had their slaves carry them in a litter

Are those safety systems really that expensive? They're all stock options on the lowest trim level of a $9500 Kei car.

> These days you can buy after-market screens with Car Play and Android auto support for 100 EURs or less.

Wish this was true. I wanted to buy one for myself, but even the most expensive aftermarket CarPlay units are absolutely terrible. Laggy & unresponsive touch screens, underpowered internals, gaudy designs etc.

I wonder why it’s still such a challenge to make something that feels as good as a first gen iPad from 2010.

> I wonder why it’s still such a challenge to make something that feels as good as a first gen iPad from 2010.

Cars have a unique set of operating requirements. During the course of a year, my car could be -40F or 160F inside, depending on if it’s winter or summer. Electronics that operate reliably in that temp range are expensive.

It's wrong, we have the Twizy, the Ami and the Zoe in France. The most technological advanced thing in the Zoe is the Bluetooth to play music.

I guess that's why the Zoe has been discontinued: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Zoe

Twizy and Ami are not regular passenger vehicles. I am sure there are less requirements for them.

Zoe is very popular in France and is being discontinued because it's replaced by the new Alpine A290, that was announced 2 hours ago.

Edit: Correction, it's the most popular electric car un Europe.

> by the end of 2020, the Zoe ranked as the all-time best selling plug-in car in Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Zoe#Sales_and_markets

I believe the Zoe's successor is the Renault 5 e (the A290 seems to be a performance version of the 5e). The Renault 5 has advanced ADAS, since it's required for all new cars, and is, according to Renault, "packed with electrical and digital technology": https://media.renault.com/renault-5-e-tech-electric-the-elec...

The Twizy was at least available as a model that made 80 km/h. The Ami can only go 50 or 45 which makes it usable as a city car only.

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