[burritas]

I really wish we could buy a new car these days without some insane infotainment system. I don't even want a screen or backup cam. I know DOT requires a backup cam, but they cause more trouble than they're worth and are there largely to compensate for the beefier pylons they also require now (less likely to get crushed if you roll, but more likely to get in an accident from reduced visibility).

I've owned or rented about four cars of different make and different software bases that would occasionally freeze up when you switch out of reverse into forward, but the cam would still be up, preventing you from accessing important car functions (and distracting the driver).

I've had to look up how to reset infotainment systems on youtube because it just wouldn't turn on at all.

There was also a report of an infotainment system which would glitch out if a radio broadcasted certain characters in their station or track info, causing it to stay stuck on that radio station, even across reboots (IIRC this was traced to an ancient js lib, I may be wrong though). How much help do you think the car manufacturer offered? It was likely asymptotic with 0.

But even if infotainment systems didn't suck for all these reasons, I still wouldn't want one. They seriously just suck ass by their very nature. Just give me a vehicle.

[com2kid]

> I don't even want a screen or backup cam.

Backup cams are mount lower and have a wider field of view than people do. They are really effective at keeping drivers from running over children. They are incredibly effective at this. Even in my low to the ground compact car, my backup cam sees things I cannot out my back window.

[guestbest]

I wish I had it on while driving

[dzhiurgis]

Driving a car without a backup cam feels like being blind

[kkfx]

I'm not concerned about COPS extracting data from my car, I'm MUCH more concerned about car's OEM extracting data regularly from remote from "my" car, who is mine just formally being connected to it's OEM and who knows what others.

This is a FAR BIGGER threat even in national security terms because an unpatched vulnerability might allow acting on ALL cars in a nation, for instance blocking them in some crucial intersections paralyzing the entire traffic, or push them to consume too much all at once (EVs/plug-in hybrid) from the grid to make mass blackouts and so on.

[dsfyu404ed]

>but they cause more trouble than they're worth and are there largely to compensate for the beefier pylons they also require now

They're a decade late knee jerk reaction to the huge rear blind spots the Ford Expeditions and Chevy Suburbans that white collar types thought were the cool hot thing to own in 2004ish and characteristically refused to take responsibility for occasionally backing over their kids with them.

The fat pillars came a tad later with side curtain airbags.

[mandeepj]

> I really wish we could buy a new car these days without some insane infotainment system.

Oh man! I recently rented a car after a very long time; really loved CarPlay experience.

[notyourwork]

> I know DOT requires a backup cam,

This is interesting and not something I was aware of. Since when does DOT require that?

[buildsjets]

Since 1 May 2018.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/p...

[cronix]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/cars-us-now-required-backup-camera...

[stonemetal12]

As of May 2018.

[captainoats]

Since 2018

[beams_of_light]

You are in the minority of drivers. Most people want updated tech in their cars, including (what I consider to be) very valuable backup cameras. I'm shocked to see this sentiment about "dumb" vehicles rising on HN.

[wetmore]

I don't think it's that shocking to see the sentiment. People who work with computers have (IMO) a better understanding of the pitfalls that can come with their integration into systems. We are more aware of the security issues that can arise, as well as the complexity they can introduce.

I don't agree with the backup camera take (I love mine), but I otherwise generally agree with the dumb car comment. I want my vehicle to be understandable and hackable, so I can work on it without needing access to its computer as much as possible. I don't want aspects of my vehicle to be made available on the public internet. I don't want a touch screen that eliminates tactile controls.

[m463]

Most people I know just want carplay - or said another way, they want their car to cede control to their phone.