Why are new cars pumped full of electronics? We managed to drive for 100 years without them...

Why are new cars pumped full of electronics? We managed to drive for 100 years without them, so why is there a sudden need for cars with more technology than the space shuttle?

Millenials

It makes them better.

>the average person is so shit at driving, new cars will literally take control from you to prevent a crash if it senses there's one about to happen

Because people are retards and sadly tech shit is what the majority of people want. It doesn't even have to be better than the old version, it just has to have "smart" in the name and people will want it. Perfect example is phones no longer have superior physical keyboards and only have shit touchscreen keyboards. Same thing on cars, they did away with physical knobs and buttons that make it easier to keep your eyes on the road while operating the radio for a flashy touchscreen. Go on any manufacturer website and what is listed in the immediate description is stuff like backup camera, touchscreen, bluetooth, lane assist, and other shit, and you have to click through a bunch of shit just to find out if it's offered in manual. It's quite surprising to me because power windows, locks, and seats have always been a turn off for me because they break quickly, but instead of going back to what works they kept going further. I wonder how cheap new cars would be if they didn't have all that shit in them.

some people arent luddites and dont want to be driving a Model T

because electronics are better

not our fault you are a retard

>All of a sudden
Lol really?

We also lived in caves and used stone tools for tens of thousands of years, but we don't do that anymore either. Ain't progress a bitch?

Customer desires and needs are changing, mostly in the direction of amenities and comforts that only electronics can reliably provide.

People nowadays take driving for granted and think of it as a commodity to get from A to B. Most of the time it's a chore for them.

Basically people are becoming a bunch of lazy fucks.

I just want a simple car that isn't a Dacia Sandero.

So you can drive them in the rain without having to slow down.
Traction control is a godsend, as is ABS. Otherwise, I think it's pretty useful to have a constant MPG readout, as well as average speed, MPG, miles remaining in tank, etc.
And for the stereo, it plays music off a USB stick, it's got an equaliser I've set up properly, and I can tune it to play music to specific seats.
Can even browse radio stations, FM radio stations, through an interface. No fiddling with knobs or memorising frequencies or pushing the search buttons over and over and over.

Evidently, OP either hasn't owned a car, or has never driven in heavy rain and aquaplaned/understeered in it. Or fishtailed when changing lanes just a bit too sharply.

OP here.


I drive a VW Fox with ABS and shitty all seasons, and a 79 Chrysler Cordoba. Since I don't drive it often it has expensive tires on it and grips well even in rain.
I also ride a 50cc Aprilia and it slips all over when riding it on wet roads.

Yeah, it sucks, but if you know how to drive and don't barrel into a corner at 100km/h you'll be fine.

>So you can drive them in the rain without having to slow down.

>mfw people actually believe this
If you need electronics to keep you from slipping in the rain, you flat out suck at a driving. In fact you shouldn't be driving if you are that bad. Please get somebody you trust to cut off your hands and feet so we can be spared your complete and utter incompetence.

>cars were exactly the same for 100-years

I wish, more fuckers would be dead.

My 60s Datsun has the steering rack in the very front of the car and a straight steering shaft going from that to the wheel, literally a spike that will impale you in a 30mph front end collision.

Cars couldn't basically drive themselves until 2010

BS. They could, you just didn't know where they were going.

Cars have been pumped full of new technology since forever.

Electric starters, automatic transmissions, transistor radios, 8-track tape players, CD changers, trip computers, ABS, controlled braking.

This shit has been going on since cars were invented.

Only thing i like is TCS and ABS is the wet

Dry weather your a pussy if you need any assistance at all.

People these days on average fucking suck at driving and need their hands literally held by the cars computer.

>Traction control is a godsend

For a person who can actually drive TC is fucking dangerous. My first car with TC tried to kill me. Took a turn quite sharpish but at a speed I was very comfortable with in my previous car, bearing in mind it was raining, and the stupid system detected the minimal loss of grip on one wheel and cut power, throwing me into some fuckin mad lift off oversteer.

>Why are new cars pumped full of electronics?

Electronics matured PLUS almost the entire general public is carrying around personal computing devices (smartphones, tabs, laps) AND there is an "arms race" going on with all the companies competing for customers. No one wants to be left behind because then they would get labeled as the "stodgy" or "non modern" car company. In the past, negative labels were both detrimental to the reputation of the company and hard to get rid of.

There's still cars that don't have a lot of tech, and those are the BASE models. So your claim of so many cars being rolling computers is off the mark if none of the options packages are taken for some of the non-GM cars. With GM, Onstar guidance and satellite radio free trial packages come with base models.

>My 60s Datsun has the steering rack in the very front of the car and a straight steering shaft going from that to the wheel, literally a spike that will impale you in a 30mph front end collision.

OP has neglected to allow for the huge technology changes in cars that improve safety. Those tech changes often make use of electronics and are only possible with electronics and computer control.

In the future, car chases may become a thing of the past since the police will eventually be able to aim an electronic gun at the car and it will automatically crawl to a stop (GM onstar cars can be commanded by police to stop) and with Drive By Wire steering starting to occur as standard features in more cars, the driver cannot even overcome the police steering his car as the driver has no direct link to the wheels.

>Why are new cars pumped full of electronics?

Let's get rid of electronic starters! I want to go back to the hand-cranked starter at the front of the car!

Nigga you still prepare your own food, it's not like we've reached a point where you can just push a button and have your food 3d printed

Driving the morning commute to and from work is a chore. There's nothing to see I haven't seen before and even if there was I have to pay closer attention to the dumbshits who drive around me.

Namely retards who wake up an hour late and think driving twenty miles over even the defacto speed limit will cause time to move backwards so they can get to work on time.

Repairing my car sucks. I have to diagnose, strip, reverse engineer the "clever design" of the engine, then hope I got it right while I put it back together and test.

If you luddite sacks of shit really prefer your automotive as dumb as the typical grease monkey that works on them then save some cash and buy antiques. In the mean time I prefer a decent diagnostic computer and a few O2 sensors making my life much easier.

You can drive whatever you like. As cars progressed things to keep race cars from spinning into ditches become available and as that technology is simplified it makes it into all road cars. Not everyone wants their Cordobas drums to over heat after one stop and become useless in the rain so people use abs brakes. Some people like heated seats and since you won't find a gas heater in them they get an electric wire running around the butt. My brz is more comfortable than my house and I am OK with that.

nice b8 m8

jk, pretty fucking obvious.

Operator error. Driving faster than you knew the car could handle. Git gud.

>all these hypocrites who probably have electric starters and power locks

i wish they would just make squarebodies again.
power steering, windows and locks are all optional.
4x4, radio, and enough electronics to make it drivable, yet still simple and tough as shit.

No. TCS thought the car couldnt handle it. I left the TC off after than and never had a problem there again

do you like your button-less, ultra HD touch screen pocket computer camera that can contact anybody whenever you please versus that tiny-ass, pixely, black/green lcd screen, limited usage for it's primary function, flip-phone from ~20 years ago? that's why.

Actually I am going to downgrade as soon as I get out of contract.

I miss having a phone that was small, lasted a week per-charge, didn't involve some corp having access to my everything, and million ways to distract me. I miss having a phone that didn't try to snake its way into every waking moment of my life.

Technology makes things easier and more comfortable for the average Joe.

10 years ago, I had $1000 worth of various equipment strapped to the dash or window of my car, now that's all built into my phone/truck. Also having software which adjusts the suspension or brakes to different road/weather conditions is quite nice.

Before: We had to shift
After: Normies are now bored because they don't have to shift

So, we are now introducing the distracto-matic, with android and iPhone integration

>Safety
>suddenly, tyranny

Tbh Android Auto with Waze is fucking amazing.

Having maps + Waze + muh lossless audio all rolled into one unit is the bee's knees. Though most people will probably use them to post on Twitter or other stupid shit.

I don't remember having a single dropped cell phone call until I upgraded to a high tech touch screen phone. And they also did away with that caveman-tier physical keyboard for a progressive touch screen keyboard that I can't type a message nearly as quickly on, but come on, it's 2016 I guess. New phones have a lot of stuff of varying practical use, but old phones are better communication devices. I do like the nice cameras though.

>tfw just bought a 2016 Versa
>no power locks or Windows
>normal key to start
>manual
>$13k off the lot
I'm actually happy as shit tbqh. As a commuter car this is great and I have minimal debt to pay off, but I still get a warranty, free servicing, and it had 0 miles on it.