cars

Sam joins Leo to talk about the new Ford Mustang Mach E, Ford's first dedicated electric vehicle. Leo says he's pretty excited about this one. Sam said Ford didn't want to create a "compliance car" to meet regulatory requirements. They wanted to create a car people would talk about. So they called it a Mustang and got designers to create something in the Spirit of Tesla, that's fast, has the Mustang DNA, and gets people excited. Sam says he thinks the Mach E is going to be a winner. It may not look like a Mustang, but Sam says that the performance will rival a gas-powered Mustang.

There has been a question lately if Google and Apple collected data from a smart connected car. Sam says that to date, they don't, other than the location history from your phone unless you turn it off. Also, if you connect your phone to the car, your car GPS is more accurate than your phone, and depending on the manufacturer, that car may provide location data to your maps app.

Sam joins Rich to talk about how modern cars are connected, and as such, users can get over the air updates, much like their cell phones. Ford's next-gen infotainment system, called Ford Sync 4, will have some interesting new features including over the air software updates. Tesla was the first to do it in the Model S in 2012, and Tesla owners love it. Sam says that manufacturers are also going to ethernet connected systems since today's cars have multiple computers in them. But Rich worries that updates could break your car, or you may have to pay for updates if you want new features.

Sam Abuelsamid came onto the show to talk about exciting ways car manufacturers are using cameras in new cars. He also mentions how, since 2016, it's been mandatory for manufacturers to include backup cameras in their vehicles. 

Sam joins Leo to talk about Ultra Wide Band (UWB) which is coming to mobile phones and cars. The iPhone 11 has UWB, but it's not turned on yet. It's wireless band technology that operates within 6-8 GHz. Google's Pixel 4 will probably have a UWB chip as well. The benefit is going to be that you can directionally connect with devices. It can work with IoT devices, and carmakers will shift to it for keyless entry. It's not uncommon for manufacturers to put hardware into a device even when the software isn't ready, and then turn it on with a firmware update.

Sam Abuelsamid joins Leo to talk about digital voice assistants in our cars. Systems get smarter by listening to samples of recordings and learning the context. So putting a DVA into your car would mean that it would be listening to you as you drive. That's how the AI gets trained.

Sam is back to talk about whether car screens would start pushing ads to your car's infotainment computer screen. Soon, you'll be able to add apps to your car's computer interface, and that could lead to ads.  Already, Starbucks and Dominos have deals with Ford and other manufacturers to include their apps on their infotainment systems. But car companies say they have no plans to do it, even though it's can be done. Leo says what's cool is two-way communication between, say parking lots and the car, enabling the driver to know if there are parking spots available.

Sam says that tires are really the key component of any car, much less an electric car. Toyota had a prototype car in the 24 hours of LaMan's and there was a flat tire that caused a car to lose, because the pit crew changed the wrong tire due to a sensor reading attributed to the wrong wheel. Sam says that keeping our tires healthy and properly inflated is the best thing to do for your car after changing the oil. Michelin is also working on an airless tire, that won't need to be inflated from time to time and will eliminate the worry of a blow out. 

Sam joins to talk about a new product that plugs into your car's OBD2 diagnostic port and can tell you what's wrong with your car. It uses Bluetooth and an app that reads the code and tells you what is wrong. But there are also other uses like monitoring your driving for a better insurance rate. It can also read all the messages the car shares with the manufacturer, or other devices in the car.