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CES 2023: BMW Unveils Prototype Seemingly Set to Rival Apple Car

I'm 100% with Arnold, past time is way better.
Also BMW:

"...the young woman has found a true companion...a digital soul that thinks and talks and is really, really helpful...it's just like your idea of friendship, but in a visionary BMW..."

not, it's not. It's just a computer voice running on a computer car.
 
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Dredd67 said:
Let me simplify this a little:

"Wake me up when I can buy an electric car".

With their sky high prices and ludicrous gadgets no one asked for, these cars built with unobtainium are just a wicked dream for most of the potential buyers.

I consider earning my life quite well, but I will not pay nor can I reasonably afford that much for a car, even if I use it every day for my multi hours commute.
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After tax credits a handful of EVs are worth looking into. The VW id4 standard and Hyundai Kona EV are reasonably priced. Chevy Bolt EUV and the new Equinox EV are options too. There are choices for those who don’t want to go all in on Tesla, which for most people is overkill for what we “need” in a car.
 
Dredd67 said:
...
With their sky high prices and ludicrous gadgets no one asked for, these cars built with unobtainium are just a wicked dream for most of the potential buyers.
...
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I get you, but for me, I can't even dream of any of the current EV offerings. I have money but want none. The appeal of most cars are... ugh.. they look like they are made for children, not adults.
 
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“Dee” was the obnoxious little sister on “What’s Happening” in the late 70’s. I shudder to think of how this voice assistant answers questions.

Image Result
 
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It's all great that companies are making more and more expensive electric cars with lots of high tech, there's definitely a (small) market (of top 0.5% rich people) for that, but until someone starts to make an affordable electric car (and I can promise you it won't be Apple), nothing is really going to change.

Tesla, BMW, Apple, these are not companies known to make affordable things for the average person. Yet it's the average person who is driving the average car, which is still a combustion engine car and will remain so forever unless something changes.

The main problems to tackle so that electric cars don't remain more than just a luxury thing for rich people:
  • The cheapest electric cars are at least 3 times more expensive than the cheapest combustion cars, but usually far more. For 99% of people combustion cars are already very expensive as they are.
  • Most people buy used cars. Which in the case of combustion engines are a fraction of the price of new cars, making this price difference even wider. Used electric cars are nowhere near as discounted.
  • Buying a used electric car carries with it the real risk of having to replace the battery sometime in the future, which is a cost so big that you might as well just send it to the junkyard and buy a used combustion car in decent shape for the price. It's not typical for a combustion car to ever require repairs so expensive, even a full engine replacement might be cheaper (and that's not something most people ever have to do). Most people expect small, regular maintenance costs but aren't prepared for gargantuan, sudden costs like that at any point of the car's life.
Is anyone trying to solve these? Do we expect Tesla, BMW or Apple to really bring that revolution about? (no) Or are we just continuing to make more expensive fancy cars for rich people?
 
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My lord that thing is hideous. Who chose the slime colored green?
 
Spaceboi Scaphandre said:
Really MacRumors? You're gonna cover the BMW prototype but not the even crazier one Sony revealed too?

www.cnn.com

Sony and Honda reveal their car brand, Afeela | CNN Business

Sony and Honda, which announced a joint venture last year to develop and build electric cars, have revealed the name of their new car brand. It will be called Afeela.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
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Well. I didn't see anything beyond a boring report. Maybe when they come up with more information, photos and videos, it may be more appealing to cover it. Or MR may already be preparing something....
 
MacRumors said:
eliminating ambitions for a full self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, and an interior design focused on communal seating.
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Such a shame with the huge amount (rumored) of R&D that was spent on it. Now it sounds like it will be a normal car for an extremely high price tag.
 
I drive a 2004 CrownVic with only 124,000 kms. on it. It’s in great shape. Yes, it has computer management components in it yet none of it is obvious. As for the interior there is no fugly infotainment screen plastered on the dash and all the controls of climate, entertainment and even seats are physical controls for which I am eternally grateful.

Oh, and the steering and suspension and exhaust are not novocained/digitalized into nothingness. It also doesn’t have multiple driving modes of eco, normal, sport and hell knows what else. It has one mode: I like driving this car.
 
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crisss1205 said:
That’s not an operating system. That’s simply just a different type of CarPlay overlay. It still runs on whatever OS the car is using.
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It basically is:

"Apple says the software will take over a car's instrument cluster, so you can see your current speed, fuel and battery levels, RPMs, navigation details, and other common bits of information in a more unified, highly Apple-esque design."

No doubt it will run via a hypervisor of course.

Either way - BMW is the notable absentee from the list of makers signed up for "next-gen carplay", and i don't think it's a coincidence they have gone down the Android Automotive line.

Remember current Carplay is really only screen mirroring + audio, and run on your phone, not the car.
 
Warped9 said:
Yep. Them and Mercedes-Benz. They were once both makes of substance, but that was a long time ago.
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At this point they're not even trying anymore. There's no consistency at all between models, and while there are some good ideas here and there, they all seem out of place or not even belonging to the same package. It's almost like if people working on lights, or wheels, or interior, never talked to people working on the other car parts, and vice-versa.

Maybe it suits some people, but I really don't understand this design. I'm a VW guy, but even there the EV line is looking so dull and bizarre I honestly don't know what I will buy when the time comes if it stays like that. Audi's design is mostly OK but it's also way too overpriced for a rebranded VW with a few rings slapped on it.
...
Ah, I forgot it's not something I should care about since I won't have the money anyways.:rolleyes:
 
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