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Comment by ajross | Hacker News Reader

If that were true then we'd all still be driving 2-cylinder air cooled put-puts.

I'm not telling you what to desire in a vehicle. I'm just saying that reactionary ludditism makes for poor market analysis. People want connected cars, period. I don't make the rules.

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Really poor equivocation re: 2-cyls. Engine performance and efficiency is one of the primary and critical aspects that define the ability effectively travel between places, which, again is the entire purpose of a car.

Engine (drivetrain really) power, torque, efficiency, durability and reliabilty are core aspects of a vehicle. Being able to accelerate (and brake) when needed is important. Watching a YouTube vehicle in traffic is not. Carmakers should be focused on improving drivetrains, handling (chassis, suspension, brakes, etc.), safety in collisions (including pedestrians/cyclists). Not on introducing a bunch of superfluous luxuries that only serve to drive up the cost of a car (and make people worse, more distracted, more selfish drivers).

Edit: It's not ludditism to oppose needless 'improvements' that increase the complexity, cost, supply chain requirements, weight, and fragility of a vehicle. It's utilitarian.

The ludditism is in who decides what's "needless". To you it's needless, to other's it's utilitarian, and there are generational differences to account for as well. You probably know how to drive from your house to a number of destinations without a GPS. Other's... don't, making a screen and an entertainment system with CarPlay a utilitarian feature for them that's a deal-breaker on a new car if doesn't have that because it's a safety hazard otherwise. You could argue that people should just have the local version of The Knowledge memorized, but that's unrealistic, plus it doesn't account for traffic causing accidents along your preferred route.

> You probably know how to drive from your house to a number of destinations without a GPS. Other's... don't,

Well then they should learn how to fucking navigate. Learn where North is and go from there.

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