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The Battle for the Last Unconquered Screen—The One in Your Car
WSJ ^ | 6 April 2019 | Tim Higgins

Posted on 04/06/2019 8:58:30 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

Auto makers and Silicon Valley are locked in a fight to control the dashboard display...

The current state of play is a confused free-for-all as the two industries circle each other warily. Some car makers are turning over their dashboard operating systems to Alphabet’s Google entirely. Others, including Ford Motor Co. and Daimler AG , wager they can muster the technological chops to compete...

With his wife’s 2016 Mazda CX-5, he can’t figure out how to turn off the radio. “We can turn it down,” he said. “But off is apparently a complex process we haven’t been able to figure out.”

A Mazda spokeswoman said there is no easy way ...

Amazon.com Inc. is in the midst of rolling out its Alexa voice assistant in BMW, Toyota and Volkswagen models, though it’s limited in what it can do...

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: automotive; goog; technology
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To: Vermont Lt

I will not get rid of my older vehicles.

I can turn off the heat & the radio & anything else I need to -—manually.

1976 Chevy 1 ton dually truck with 4 speed Granny low trans:

The truck has over 348,000 miles on it & it still runs just fine. Not expensive to repair. I can actually check my own oil, radiator, batteries, power steering, brake reservoir, and windshield washer supply of fluids without needing a dealer mechanic to do it for me.

1979 Buick station wagon with 403 Olds engine & over 215,000 miles.

I can do all the same checks in my station wagon, and also the fluid in the transmission. Parts are priced decently. also. Summit Racing Parts NEVER lets me down. They find whatever I need, at reasonable prices.

New cars have ‘sealed dipsticks’, etc. GOOD LUCK when driving across Montana—Wyoming—Nevada—Utah—Colorado, etc. IF you check the fluids yourself, you void the warranty. Who the Hell is running the American car companies that are that stupid??

Don’t need anything new with all that against me.


61 posted on 04/06/2019 12:15:34 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I do not know what they do today but, long ago it was S-O-P for a race car to mount the analog gauges so the indicator pointed straight up for normal operating.

The oil pressure gauge might be rotated 45 degrees.”

I have a background in racing since I was 17, and am now 79. I remember how carefully those gauges were mounted so they all were correctly aligned to the right place for driver to glance at.


62 posted on 04/06/2019 12:26:28 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: UB355

About 4 years ago, I was at the local Taco Bell for a lunch. Perky girl behind counter asked m if I “would like to add $1 to my order to feed the hungry kids in Africa”.

I answered—loud enough for the entire noon lunch line to hear-—”Absolutely NOT-they are not my kids......”

Then I turned back as I was turning to get my drink & said “I would gladly donate $1 to sterilize those African females who keep having kids they cannot feed”.....Poor kid almost had a heart attack.

Lady ahead of me at drink dispenser said “GOOD FOR YOU’.

Haven’t changed my mind.


63 posted on 04/06/2019 12:31:22 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Damn things are dangerous.

I hate’em.


64 posted on 04/06/2019 12:33:50 PM PDT by moovova
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To: UB355

My 1979 Buick station was the original owner’s manual in the glove box. 8 1/2 X 5 inches & 112 pages, including lots of info about fused block & capacities & filters, etc.

The original CLOCK still works.


65 posted on 04/06/2019 12:39:38 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Low-pressure tires turn at a different speed from the others.”””
Not sure I am buying that.

The WHOLE car is moving at X speed. One tire cannot move at a lower speed..... Don’t know that could possibly happen.


66 posted on 04/06/2019 12:45:27 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles

A low tire has a smaller diameter so it has to turn faster.


67 posted on 04/06/2019 12:47:29 PM PDT by Clay Moore (You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Get the heck out of my car and stay out!


68 posted on 04/06/2019 12:57:31 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: ridesthemiles

True, I did not clearly state that explanation.
The rate of rotation will be different.

Moving on, when the car with all four tires properly inflated is rolling down the road at exactly sixty miles per hour, how fast is the very bottom of the tire going?

Answer: ZERO.


69 posted on 04/06/2019 1:17:41 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!")
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To: oldtech
“Can anyone else remember the days when a video screen in the driver’s visual range would have been unthinkable?”

Yes, and in my pre-drive screen car, I know how to work every single nob!

But heaven forbid I need a rental! Just the back up video screen disorients me and makes the maneuver unsafe.

And yes, how many accidents are caused by drivers trying to figure out how to turn on/off radio, a/c, etc? I tried putting my finger on the drive screen! Are some of them touch screens?Who thought of putting that out of reach of the driver?

Oldtech, yes, it would have been UNTHINKABLE, not just unthinkable but ILLEGAL to allow the driver's visual field to get distracted by the array of warnings, words, pictures now popping on the TV screen in the car!

70 posted on 04/06/2019 1:27:51 PM PDT by The Westerner (Protect the most vulnerable: get the government out of medicine, education and our forests!)
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To: ridesthemiles

The truck has over 348,000 miles on it & it still runs just fine.

Nice work!

Did you rebuild the engine?

I had a Volvo 164, bought it with over 100k rebuilt it and drove another 100k then gave it to my brother.

But 348k!!! The moon is only about 225!!!

Very good!

A friend had an early Dodge diesel p/u, he made 250k and the body said no more! Still looked good but only the paint held the rust together.


71 posted on 04/06/2019 1:30:47 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!")
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To: Clay Moore

Nooooooooooooo!


72 posted on 04/06/2019 1:43:26 PM PDT by Disambiguator (Keepin' it analog.)
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To: rockrr

I had a ‘67 Austin Healey 3000 Mk. III for a while. The dual exhausts made beautiful music together, if you could keep them from hitting the pavement!


73 posted on 04/06/2019 2:39:07 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (Trump: "America will never be a socialist country!")
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To: Fresh Wind

Around that time, a friend had a Triumph TR-4A. It was the first car I ever drove where you sat with your legs extended instead of your feet being on the floorboard. As for sound, the Jaguar XKE always sounded like a lawn mower.


74 posted on 04/06/2019 3:02:46 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Fresh Wind

I paid $600 for the car because it had a blown engine in it. Two months later I located and purchased a ‘62 3000 engine that came complete with transmission AND 2sp overdrive!

I had owned Midgets and driven a TR3 before and so was totally unprepared for how fast the Healey’s are! Or how low to the ground, LoL

Living in the rainy Pacific Northwest wears out convertible owners and I soon sold it for a Camaro.


75 posted on 04/06/2019 3:24:46 PM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
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To: Disambiguator

Look up the Indian car, TaTa.


76 posted on 04/06/2019 5:39:15 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

If those things weren’t effective onbalance, they wouldn’t continue to be used. It’s a business of percentages.


77 posted on 04/06/2019 8:31:38 PM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Too much screen tech distracts the driver.

I don’t want anything flashing or blinking a lot in my field of vision while I’m driving, let alone video including ads. I want to focus on the road ahead of me. In over 40 years of driving I’ve never had an accident that was my fault - I want to keep it that way.


78 posted on 04/06/2019 8:55:24 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I’ve got that touch screen in my car too... takes some getting use to...


79 posted on 04/06/2019 9:04:21 PM PDT by GOPJ (AOC, Mayor Pete, and Bernie are updated versions of George McGovern...if McGovern was a commie.)
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To: sparklite2; rockrr

> you sat with your legs extended

I had a Fiat 850 Spyder & sat exactly the same way.

As a big guy, I didn’t get in the car, I wore it.

Low to the ground ? A foot off it if not less.

Had it over 90 and passed a semi - could have driven under it with headroom to spare. All this on an 850 cc engine. Mind you, there are motorcycles with engines 3 or 4 times larger.

Put a car cassette player and amp in a custom built wood box and plugged it in when I was out driving. Had two small 4” mini speakers on the floor in front and a pair of Jenson 20 home stereo speakers on the ledge behind the rear seats where the rag-top was stored when it was down. Controls ? On and off, and volume. Sounded great.


80 posted on 04/07/2019 1:29:17 PM PDT by ADemocratNoMore (The Fourth Estate is now the Fifth Column)
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