this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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BMW Is Giving Up on Heated Seat Subscriptions Because People Hated Them::The blowback worked—but subscriptions for software-based new car features will continue, according to a BMW board member.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Seems to be harder and harder to get a new car without all those "smart" features. Soon, it might be impossible to find one at all, just like it's impossible to find consumer-grade dumb tv in the market right now.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

It's why I am considering availability of public transportation when house-hunting nowadays. When my car breaks down, I hope to be able to NOT buy a new one. Ideally, for the rare occasion that I need one in the future, I could rent one.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think they need the smart features to get a 5 star safety rating.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, now with many cars being EVs, I'd rather have some computer in there to manage the battery, since I'm sitting on a bomb if that thing is mismanaged.

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

What you're describing is a Battery Management System (BMS), whose job is to monitor some key parameters of the cells and make sure they remain balanced. There's no intrinsic reason for it to be tightly integrated into an overarching system that performs surveillance or other high-level functions in a "smart" vehicle. This video by Great Scott explains the basic principles and he even builds a simple one from scratch, that would be suitable for something like an e-bike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT-1gvkFj60

Sufficiently motivated people have been building highly performant DIY electric cars for several years with no Big Brother tech in the OpenInverter community https://openinverter.org/wiki/Main_Page

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=rT-1gvkFj60

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Euro7 regulation requires cars to be able to make emergency calls automatically on collision, so car makers use the opportunity to include 24/7 cellular connectivity into their new cars.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/security-and-emergencies/emergency-assistance-vehicles-ecall/index_en.htm

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

Yes, and they will tell "Look! Consumer DEMANDED those smartcars! We are only replying to a demand!"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, just like they did with station wagons. "Look! No one is buying station wagons anymore ^because we stopped making them^ so it's all SUV's going forward! Which cost the same to manufacture but we can sell for a higher price!"