The Writer's Room - 10/9/2023
Today in The Teardown Writer's Room: Things don't always work the way we want them to work.
Today’s piece is my first release in The Writer’s Room series.
As a reminder, The Writer’s Room is where I’ll publish my thoughts on drafts and other ideas for The Teardown. I’m optimistic that I put these little bits of information in your hands once a week.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on future topics. If one or more of today’s blurbs interest you, let me know. Support is a critical motivator! My comments are open. You can also respond directly via email.
Disturbing Trends In Cars
I’m a long time car-aficionado. Perhaps you read that and think: of course, Chris. What guy isn’t? So, of course, I recently leased a car that doesn’t have any physical buttons to turn on the heat or the A/C - both necessary here in the Northeast. In contrast, it keeps the buttons to change the driving mode from Comfort to Sport. How many people regularly use climate control functions vs. actively change driving modes? I’d love to know.
One overall conspiracy theory suggests that automakers remove these pesky buttons to increase our reliance on their award-winning software interfaces. And, if you’re thinking ahead, to lock unsuspecting owners into subscription-only software features that replace otherwise standard car functions. Need to turn on a seat heater in winter? $10 a month.
As Marc Andreessen says, software is eating the world.
Defending Mechanical Things
I hinted at this idea in the description of my last. Computer code long ago conquered something critical to vehicles in the U.S. but not often consciously considered by buyers: transmissions. Most of you with cars drive without a clutch pedal and without actually shifting gears; yet, that process occurs repeatedly underneath your seat(ish).
Despite their popularity in Europe, manual transmissions are slowly losing the popularity contest here in the U.S. Car and Driver recently featured two articles describing the demise of manual transmission options in both the Volkswagen GTI and Mini Cooper.
In defense of mechanical things, I’m sad to see manual options fade from prominence. A car with a stick shift is a simpler beast, invoking a car-to-driver connection that just isn’t replicable in any automatic-like option. But, we’re instead pushing further into the world where our cars are propelled by increasingly sophisticated software.
Thing Should Just Work, Right?
The banking meltdown reminded me of a third draft and ongoing concern that ties nicely to my prior blurbs: we expect many things to just work. Banks shouldn’t go from solvent to government-siezed overnight. Cars should turn on and drive. Lightbulbs shouldn’t burn out well before advertised.
With cars, we expect to step in, turn them on, and get on our way, but that sequence sometimes misfires for reasons that are benign but annoying. One of my cars recently sat in the driveway, entirely dead. We quickly understood that the battery needed a hangover cure, and nursed it back to life with a jump. Yet, the car, when started, couldn’t shift. What?
Indeed, something with a very mechanical connection to my car was all the sudden hobbled, but how? I spent hours on the phone with the manufacturer. I tried all sorts of combinations of button presses, knob turns, and other tactics suggested by internet strangers. I did interpretive dance for the front-bumper crash sensors.
Ultimately, what did we need? A software reset. We accomplished that in the silliest possible way: locking the car, and walking far enough away such that the car lost its signal with they key and performed a software reset of sorts. Just like that, fifteen minutes later, the car started, shifted, and was back to normal.