> But ("FSD" excepted) they spend more of their attention on what really matters: treating their vehicle as a modern electronic device. But the European car companies are still stuck in the mid 20th century and make the opposite branch cut. The rest of European industry is the same.
You can probably say the same about GM or Ford, and I'd extend this to companies that sell hardware products in general. In the US too, the hardware department of many hardware companies runs the show, even though the hardware sold still runs a lot of custom software.
Tesla was shaped by a guy who got rich thanks to having founded a software company, and he brought those practices to hardware. It's the exception rather than the norm.
So the question should be, with Tesla and Rivian both being pretty young, where are the european startups? There is so much expertise in Germany for building cars, you would think that it is the best place to found a car startup. But where are they? DHL couldn't find a single German buyer for their car company.
I can’t speak to GM but from my experience with a Ford Mach E they’re starting to get it.
The interface, while not perfect, is not the kind of OEM junk I’ve seen from others. They’ve got working OTAs, although it’s going slow and they’re learning.
They may end up outsourcing a lot of that to Google’s Android based car platform (also called Android Auto?).
But they seemed to have learned from Tesla it’s an integral part of the car these days and not something you tack on at the end. It will take time but they are genuinely moving in the right direction at a reasonable (but not fast) pace.
> There is so much expertise in Germany for building cars, you would think that it is the best place to found a car startup. But where are they?
Precisely because they have the expertise they don't found startups. After founding an air company it's the second quickest way to become a millionaire if you are a billionaire. Tesla only became profitable in 2020 on the back of some government credits. 17 years after founding.
Remember Tesla's screens breaking because they used regular LCDs that couldn't withstand the vibrations and temperatures in a car? Yeah, that comes from expertise.
You can probably say the same about GM or Ford, and I'd extend this to companies that sell hardware products in general. In the US too, the hardware department of many hardware companies runs the show, even though the hardware sold still runs a lot of custom software.
Tesla was shaped by a guy who got rich thanks to having founded a software company, and he brought those practices to hardware. It's the exception rather than the norm.
So the question should be, with Tesla and Rivian both being pretty young, where are the european startups? There is so much expertise in Germany for building cars, you would think that it is the best place to found a car startup. But where are they? DHL couldn't find a single German buyer for their car company.