Hacker News Reader

Comment by meekrohprocess | Hacker News Reader

This is pretty cool. An Apple car could be amazing, and something like a small electric town car probably wouldn't be too expensive as a joint pilot product between companies like Apple and Hyundai.

But, here are the big questions. Will it work with my Android phone and my relatives' Fire tablets? And will it continue to work well in 20 years when it stops getting updates?

If the answer to both of those is "yes", then I'm excited.

View on HN

> Android phone and my relatives' Fire tablets?

Almost certainly not

> will it continue to work well in 20 years when it stops getting updates?

Mostly likely, yes. Apple products very often have much longer lives than their competitors (if taken care of, obviously)

Consider who their competitors will be in the automotive sector and the longevity their vehicles have.

What products has Apple supported for more than a decade? That's bare minimum for a car. I have a 40 year old car that I use nearly every day (or did, before lockdown) and I can still get parts for it. My newest car is 10 years old.

One third of all US cars are under 5 years old. I suspect you'll just be like the guy running his Linux laptop from 2012 (I still have my XPS M1330 haha, older than your new car).

They won't make a product for you and they'll make lots of money.

> They won't make a product for you and they'll make lots of money.

LOL probably true. I hope that doesn't become the norm however. I refuse to take the depreciation loss on a new car, and if cars can't reasonably be expected to last 20 years (with repair/parts availability) I'm not sure what I'll do. Keep an old Red Barchetta in a barn I guess.

I’m not sure that the general public will own these cars. They’ll be fleet/taxi/etc. Not sure about you, but I don’t pay much attention to make/model/year of vehicle when I get into a taxi/Uber.

No I don't either. But haven't taken a taxi in 10 years. Never used an Uber.

The problem with cars is spare parts. If apple handles bumper replacements like they handle their laptop part replacements where they mostly only recommend replacing the whole logic board, I don't see people buying apple cars for very long.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com