QOTD: At What Price Connectivity?
From this week’s Automotive News, editor Jason Stein talks to former Hyundai CEO and now TrueCar board member John Krafcik about connected cars
“Do you notice that as we talk about increased connectivity in the car, we are also talking about being less connected with the car?” Krafcik asks through a phone line. “Connectivity and autonomy. Sounds like those are at odds with each other, hey?”
Krafcik, who owns a Caterham and a Porsche 911, is one executive who can speak with authority on the inverse relationship between in-car connectivity and feeling a connection with one’s automobile. Unfortunately, we seem to be moving inexorably towards the “connected car” model, at the expense of feeling connected to our cars – and most people don’t seem to mind one bit.
More by Derek Kreindler
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There's only one right answer. Jeep.
There's benefits to both. I don't want to be "connected to the road" during a 12 hour road trip. But then I don't want to be connected to anything BUT the road when I am blasting through the twisties on my motorcycle. I look forward to automated cars as they will enable me to enjoy transportation all the time, as well as make the roads safer by getting rid of all the folks who hate driving anyway.
People look at me like I've lost my mind when I tell them the next car I want is a base Wrangler...manual trans, hand-crank windows, soft top, steel wheels. My only concession will be the desire for air-conditioning.
When I saw the title, I though it was going to be like this. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/automobiles/getting-their-trucks-in-a-row-europeans-revisit-the-convoy.html?_r=0 The idea of this in Europe is to get them closer together so they can fill more of the road without building another lane. They are also into these computer controlled transmissions. Supposedly, they are working on using GPS with contour maps to optimize getting up and down hills. One of the problems being that employee drivers aren't very motivated the way an owner/operator would be. Fuel savings goes straight to the bottom line in an ultra competitive industry. Back to the real topic .... I have started driving more with the sound system turned off.