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Future "classic" automobiles are going to require a whole news class of geeks to keep them running.I have conflicting emotions when it comes to an increasing amount of cutting-edge automotive electronics.
On one hand, I LOVE lots of buttons and color displays with lots of information and flexible ways of connecting devices like my iPhone.
On the other hand, this stuff becomes obsolete much faster than engines, transmissions, and seats. Buying a 2016 year model car with today's latest technology 10 years from now will seem like buying a car with a factory 8-track player today. 10 years is not old for a car, but it is ancient for a computer, GPS system, or smartphone. In fact, portable GPS units, smartphones, and tablets as we know them today didn't even exist 10 years ago!
Audio systems have gone from AM to FM to 8-tracks to cassettes to CDs to MP3 players and now towards "cloud" streaming just in the last few decades. In the old days, you could replace your old shaft-style AM radio with the current state-of-the-art with nothing more than a plastic installation kit and a simple wiring harness. That is no longer the case. Automobiles are becoming disposable appliances faster than ever thanks to loads of cutting-edge technology.
All this wireless connectivity, telematics, Wi-Fi hotspots, etc. that is going into vehicles these days... There will come a time where the standards used by these systems are obsolete and no longer supported - LONG before the useful life of the vehicle itself is up. You'll just be carrying around hundreds of pounds of obsolete electronic junk.
Yup. Like the more than half million GM vehicles with OnStar equipment that stopped functioning in 2008 when analog cellular towers went dark.Future "classic" automobiles are going to require a whole news class of geeks to keep them running.
On the wide area wireless network front: now that the major carriers have (more or less) built out LTE networks, 5G trails have begun. The networks talking to vehicles today will be obsolete and unsupported in the not to distant future.
Good thing prices drop with consumer adaptation.
That's a mouth-watering system, and with a printer!!! Of course that was a year's salary for many of that time.Future "classic" automobiles are going to require a whole news class of geeks to keep them running.
On the wide area wireless network front: now that the major carriers have (more or less) built out LTE networks, 5G trails have begun. The networks talking to vehicles today will be obsolete and unsupported in the not to distant future.
Good thing prices drop with consumer adaptation.
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No worries. Car dealers are keeping them in business. The "long forms" required by the state and/or lenders are still multi-part forms that require impact printers. Lots of auto parts stores like O'Reilly and ABC still use impact printers for receipts. If you look behind the counter, you'll still find lots of impact printers still alive and well.Impact print head and ink tape suppliers have seen a dramatic reduction in product demand.