
German cars have the most to lose from a changing auto industry - oska
https://www.economist.com/news/business/21737534-coddled-successive-governments-industry-dogged-dieselgate-lagging-electric
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Glawen
Embedded sw automotive engineer here. The article suggest that the german
industry may not cope with more computer centric vehicles. I think thats just
laughable, it is them who introduced computer controlled engine (motronic) or
invented ABS and ESP which are computer controlled brakes. Don't underestimate
them in this field just because they are not using Python to develop their
car. Their suppliers are leading the automotive industry, providing the best
electronic and SW money can buy in a lot of car components.

Ok they arrogantly ignored the hybrid and EVs and focused only on ICE, but I
believe they will quickly catch up, just look at the bmw i3 for example.

It is however true that the end of ICE will be a huge blow to their industry,
with millions of people poised to lose their jobs. But that is the same for
every country having a lot of carmakers.

In my opinion the only field where they will not be able to catch up are
autonomous vehicle, it is too abstract and revolutionary for them. It does not
fit the german way of innovation based on small incremental innovative steps.

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kbwt
But doesn't Germany have a rather weak software industry?

If it comes to competing on software, I am not sure if they will be able to
attract top talent.

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namelost
Many people want to live in Germany, there's nothing wrong with Germany
itself. If German companies were competitive in pay and culture, they could
easily attract the best from around the world. It's my observation that many
German companies are not interested in top talent, and see software developers
as a cost center for which they need to get "value for money".

~~~
kbwt
Right, the latter part of your comment describes exactly why Germany has been
exporting its skilled Software Engineers for the past few decades.

The question is, when will the circumstances change and how long will it take
to reverse the damage that has been done?

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konschubert
The German public and car industry is fighting tooth and nail against any
change in drivetrain technology. The push to outlaw old diesel engines in city
centers is met with cries about "deindustrialization".

We also mostly drive stick here.

I think the jury is still out if cleaner car technology will actually win or
if we will keep living in poisoned cities.

Maybe German car makers will come out ahead by focusing on strong, loud and
polluting cars.

I sure hope they won't.

~~~
lima
> The German public and car industry is fighting tooth and nail against any
> change in drivetrain technology.

This is not true. The German car industry is heavily investing in electric
cars.

Source: friend is engineering manager for a major supplier

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adrianN
Ten years too late?

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cornholio
Early enough to catch the transition to mainstream of the electric car and
mass adoption. That is at least 10 years away.

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John_KZ
The article assumes the following as "truths":

* There is a real anti-diesel sentiment, and diesel phasing out will happen

* Electric vehicles are an upcoming reality

* Driverless vehicles are desirable and will dominate the market

And finally,

* The German auto industry is unprepared to deal with these facts

Honestly I completely disagree on all 4 points. Electric vehicles are and will
remain very expensive and inconvenient for a while. Their post-subsidy prices
make clear that they constitute tax-funded toys for the rich.
Autonomous/Driverless vehicles are also a novelty that we'll pay with a lot of
blood. It's clear that we'll need at least 1-2 decades to reach a point where
you can place reasonable trust to such a system for your daily commute. As for
the diesel problem, there is a chance that some environmentalist lobby will
eventually cause diesel cars for personal use to be phased out, but right now
it's more of a social media meme than anything. And just because German
automakers cheat on their tests, it doesn't mean that everyone else does too.

And finally, be certain that those massive corporate giants take consumer
trends very seriously, and they're already trailing just behind the bleeding
edge on all those technologies. They just don't spend that much on PR because
they don't need more capital.

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zdrummond
The article leads with "GERMAN carmakers have much in common with the self-
confident roadhogs who favour their vehicles". That makes it hard to take
seriously or treat as good journalism.

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crb002
I was impressed by the user interface of the Audi Q5, while at the same time
horrified of the the attack surface that goes far beyond the Jeep hack.

Germans, especially Audi, need to hardware condom media system writes to the
CAN bus and cordon off sides of the driver dash into separate screens the
media system can't spoof writes onto.

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mcny
If anyone here is in Germany, I'd like to ask you: what will it take for you
to stop driving?

Previously on hn:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16375534](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16375534)

~~~
lima
I live in Germany, and I neither have a driver's license, nor do I own a car.
Same for many of my friends and colleagues.

In cities, almost everything is faster by bike than by car. European cities
are very dense, parking space is scarce and many inner cities are car-free.

Public transport infrastructure is great and while people like to complain
about Deutsche Bahn (the railway company), it's still more predictable and
comfortable than driving a car.

Oh, and did I mention how much money it saves not to own a car?

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walshemj
I think you meant that you are young and live in a big German city and benefit
from the generous pubic subsidy.

re: the saving money buy not owning a car yes I am sure all the commuters to
London would like to live in central London housing is still more expensive
than a car

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neonate
[https://outline.com/325zSr](https://outline.com/325zSr)

