Hacker News Reader

Comment by ohazi | Hacker News Reader

You know, you could have even stopped at the car analogy, because modern cars are actually doing this and it's fucking terrifying.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16374464

View on HN

I can certainly imagine the dashboard becoming real estate for ads.

taxis do that to passengers for some 15years now. and that is only counting the video ads. If you count print you can go back all you want.

The adverts are why I use uber in New York rather than yellow cabs.

If you tap three times on the display it puts it in an accessibility mode which has a simplified interface and...no ads!

yeah, but then it starts loudly reading to you....and then at the end of the ride when you want to pay with your credit card the whole interface is weird. Better to just get really good at hitting the off button as soon as it allows you to.

When your car is fully self-driving, I'm sure you will be able to get a discount on the sticker/rental price by agreeing to view some ads on the in-car screens while you ride.

Sure, it will start that way. But we all know how that feature will progress:

1. ads play by default, with an option to pay to remove

then to:

2. forced ads with no option to remove, and the car won't run unless they're playing

3. dynamic rerouting our your drive to maximize utility of cityscape ads

I have never, ever purchased anything with online ads.

Have you?

Amazon does it with its kindles. Its ~20 $ cheaper if you opt in for ads when the kindle is idle/off.

Now you know why Google is so interested in self-driving cars. Driving time is one of the few untapped reservoirs of attention remaining. If the car can do the driving for you, your eyeballs are now free to have ads blasted into them.

I thought it was a story about cars and tech when I first started reading it. It wasn't until the article talks about dents and such that I realized this wasn't the focus.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com