Do You Want Your Scout To Have A Hands-Free Driving System?

[eddiet1212]

Do You Want Your Scout To Have A Hands-Free Driving System?

I do NOT want my Scout to drive itself.

Part of owning a hands-on vehicle would be the satisfaction of tactile power over your destiny while enjoying the ride.

If I wanted a robo-car then I could buy a future Rivian.

Reuters
Rivian to launch hands-free driving system in 2025, 'eyes-off' in 2026

Rivian to launch hands-free driving system in 2025, 'eyes-off' in 2026, CEO says

(Reuters) -Electric-vehicle maker Rivian plans to launch its advanced hands-free driver assistance systems in 2025 and its "eyes-off" systems in 2026, CEO RJ Scaringe said on Thursday. An advanced driver assistance system that enables drivers to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the...

ca.finance.yahoo.com

 

[Mousehunter]

I don't always HATE subscriptions - sometimes it is easy to see that the feature has an ongoing operational cost. Take a cell phone. There is a ton of infrastructure that must be maintained to keep it operating, and there are use costs on top of that - more use requires more infrastructure to be built to handle the increased traffic. If self driving requires giant AI farms to run it - could understand (but it does not). But in most cases with vehicles, we pay for the hardware upfront, and then are being charged to use it a second time. It is more like a drug dealer trying to get people hooked.

 

[J Alynn]

I don't always HATE subscriptions - sometimes it is easy to see that the feature has an ongoing operational cost. Take a cell phone. There is a ton of infrastructure that must be maintained to keep it operating, and there are use costs on top of that - more use requires more infrastructure to be built to handle the increased traffic. If self driving requires giant AI farms to run it - could understand (but it does not). But in most cases with vehicles, we pay for the hardware upfront, and then are being charged to use it a second time. It is more like a drug dealer trying to get people hooked.

I agree here, though I’ll also add and maybe not popular opinion but phone as key could be an annual $10 fee for those wanting options beyond key fob

 

[cyure]

I agree here, though I’ll also add and maybe not popular opinion but phone as key could be an annual $10 fee for those wanting options beyond key fob

That’s fine just don’t charge me monthly to activate heated seats or something. Stuff like that is unacceptable.

 

[RodorW]

I agree here, though I’ll also add and maybe not popular opinion but phone as key could be an annual $10 fee for those wanting options beyond key fob

This isn’t a great idea, if your car and your phone/watch are capable of communicating that should be part of basic functions, like power mirrors or heated seats. We already pay monthly for our phones, the vehicle and to fuel them. Having a subscription for “self driving” makes sense as there’s more work happening outside of the car with updates and making things work better overtime, take GM super cruise, it only works on roadways that have been mapped that takes time not directly associated with your vehicle, plus when you pay for it you’re agreeing to be aware of your surroundings and ready to take control

Many vehicles already have too many subscriptions as is in my car alone I have an OnStar subscription for nearly $60 a month that includes OnStar (plus guardian app), my EV connection (which is a required subscription to use the myChevrolet app to be able to see the cars state of charge, generally when purchased from a Chevrolet dealership it comes with free amount of time to use it. I bought my car used so I didn’t have access to that) and Wi-Fi

 

[Mousehunter]

Just looked at the Ford BlueCruise map. Looks like about 5 roads in Texas allow it. While not completely useless to me - would be very hard to warrant a subscription when I generally use only one of those roads, and it is often less than 1 trip a month.

So sure, if you commute on one of those roads daily it might be worth it to you. If you are not commuting on one of the very few roads in Texas that is mapped - nope, not just no, but hell no. Does not help that the option to use it is $500, and only available if you have another $6k worth of options first. Which is kind of why I saw it listed as a $10k option on the sticker (all the options, plus 3 years of service).

At least some of the other companies are not restricting the driver assist feature to a set of future roads that are not mapped yet - and after 3 years of map updates, are showing virtually no changes in Texas.

 

[JohnT]

I would have to say no, but to be competitive in the market it might make sense to have this capability.

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

I think the difficulty is that some of the vehicle wireless services (using an app to unlock your vehicle or remote start it) require a cell phone connection in the vehicle (some vehicles use NFC at close range, but that's a different discussion). Essentially, your car has a cell phone inside it that it uses for connected services and someone has to pay for that. Most manufacturers will bake in 3-5 years of service into the cost of the vehicle, but after that time period, the customer has to start paying for it. This is becoming a fairly common thing.

Software development is tougher. If you keep getting free updates that continue to add functionaility or even range to the vehicle, those are nice benefits that the manufacturer is continuing to bankroll behind the scenes. Apple does these updates for free as they want you to continue to buy their phones. But you could argue that with the entire vehicle system, things are a bit more complicated and thousands of hours of software development costs has to be covered along the way. Tesla charges a big premium to get access to FSD for example. Rivian usually doesn't charge money for most software upgrades. I think the automotive industry is still finding their footing in terms of covering those costs.

 

[Huckleberry]

NOPE.
Fair question given what ‘EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING’…But is that what Scout is about? It seems absurd to consider with all the nostalgic thread and feels woven all thru the intention and motivation to bring the Scout back. Its like selling out to the sign of the times (just because) vs a very human experience that engages us with the vehicle.

 

[Jkew]

Software development is tougher. If you keep getting free updates that continue to add functionaility or even range to the vehicle, those are nice benefits that the manufacturer is continuing to bankroll behind the scenes.

The only software updates which are truly required are those needed for recalls or safety concerns, and maybe bug fixes. Where subscription models really work is when you can expect order of magnitude improvements — and you just can’t do that in a car like you can with SaaS software.

Car companies keep trying to get the margins of software companies, but the distribution model is fundamentally different in a rather obvious way. Even software services are moving more towards a consumption-based models.

Do the brakes work? Does the speedometer speedometer? Gosh I hope so.

A car is the second largest purchase for many people after a house, so the subscription model, and the feeling that you don’t really own this expensive, physical thing that you sit inside is more palpable.

Make a good car that people love the first time they drive it, but don’t hang your hat on entertainment console whiz bangs and fart honks to keep people happy.

 

[Torzeck]

Yes! I have a Tesla Model Y and have been trying Tesla's latest FSD that they pushed out to, I think all owner,s with HW 4 as a 30 day trial
It is fantastic like its just a common feature. It's that good. I think it should also be a feature you can either buy or subscribe to- like Tesla does.
The big idea is the car has the hardware capability form day one.

Imagine you're out hunting, off-roading or adventuring, you record your route off the beaten path, then get injured, Your scout would be able to get you back before you bleed out.

 

[Jkew]

Yes! I have a Tesla Model Y and have been trying Tesla's latest FSD that they pushed out to, I think all owner,s with HW 4 as a 30 day trial
It is fantastic like its just a common feature. It's that good. I think it should also be a feature you can either buy or subscribe to- like Tesla does.
The big idea is the car has the hardware capability form day one.

Imagine you're out hunting, off-roading or adventuring, you record your route off the beaten path, then get injured, Your scout would be able to get you back before you bleed out.

The machine learning models used for FSD require constant updates and fresh data for road conditions so it’s definitely a subscription or buy-worthy thing if you want if you want it. That software is expensive to maintain.

It’s not something I personally need though so I would prefer to opt out of freely providing the road telemetry that supports the feature.

Unless Scout pays me for the data. That might be OK. Scout pays me 20$ a month for my driving data to make FSD safer. I’m a pretty good driver. I promise.