If Apple does go through with this, it would be a golden opportunity for Elon to create a Tesla phone. No spyware, open source, reasonably priced...he could totally bury Apple and make absolute mint on it.
That'd be pretty cool. But do we completely trust him either? I liked the open source phone ideas from a while back, but of course they never really caught on. Open source cars would be cool too. Imagine a roll-your own diesel-electric plug-in hybrid. 200+ mpgs... but I digress. Well, but my point is that the laws and politics governing these things are more to blame than the capability of the tech. I believe that's always been the case. Maybe the Amish have been right all along.
The hard part is getting chip manufacturers to open source their firmware. I'm talking the cellular modems and such, as well as the CPU and GPU. Most "open-source" hardware requires the use of closed-sourced "binary blobs" for the cellular modem and other components still.
Now, Tesla could make ALL the chips, but it's a patent minefield. Then you need software support to get people to actually want to use it. It's a HUGE undertaking because Google and Apple are so entrenched and have such a massive head start.
Not impossible, but a very very steep uphill battle. I'd try one, for sure.
Making a hybrid would be a bit more in depth I don't know if anyone has done it, but I haven't read up on it much in years. Was considering trying to make one for my 4.2L M119 V8 in my '97 Benz so I could manual swap it, but ended up selling it. Too many electronic headaches outside the engine bay to deal with, even back then for Mercedes. US cars had barely adopted OBD2 at that time...
Anyways, you would need to make an auxillary computer that can read the data needed to know if it should use electric or IC power at any given time, or both. It would require control of your fly by wire throttle, but a backup circuit to bypass it straight to the Megasquirt would be good insurance in case the electric part goes down it's not dead in the water. Things it would need to know are probably battery charge, current fuel consumption and load of the IC engine, and some sort of targets to hit to maximize mpg while not letting the battery get too low . Speaking of which, you also need to trigger regenerative braking so you can recharge.
But if someone figures it out and shares then it could be easier for everyone else.
I'm just worried it would go the way of the Windows Phone. I'm going to guess an X phone would be based on Android unless he made an in-house OS. He could still heavily modify Android for that, though.
I've had an iPhone since 2012. If I ever need to switch out of the ecosystem it will be a hard change since I'm so used to it.
If Apple does go through with this, it would be a golden opportunity for Elon to create a Tesla phone. No spyware, open source, reasonably priced...he could totally bury Apple and make absolute mint on it.
That'd be pretty cool. But do we completely trust him either? I liked the open source phone ideas from a while back, but of course they never really caught on. Open source cars would be cool too. Imagine a roll-your own diesel-electric plug-in hybrid. 200+ mpgs... but I digress. Well, but my point is that the laws and politics governing these things are more to blame than the capability of the tech. I believe that's always been the case. Maybe the Amish have been right all along.
The hard part is getting chip manufacturers to open source their firmware. I'm talking the cellular modems and such, as well as the CPU and GPU. Most "open-source" hardware requires the use of closed-sourced "binary blobs" for the cellular modem and other components still.
Now, Tesla could make ALL the chips, but it's a patent minefield. Then you need software support to get people to actually want to use it. It's a HUGE undertaking because Google and Apple are so entrenched and have such a massive head start.
Not impossible, but a very very steep uphill battle. I'd try one, for sure.
There is the Megasquirt system that lets you build your own ECU with no BS emissions controls and etc.
'Dasting! Tanx frawg!
Making a hybrid would be a bit more in depth I don't know if anyone has done it, but I haven't read up on it much in years. Was considering trying to make one for my 4.2L M119 V8 in my '97 Benz so I could manual swap it, but ended up selling it. Too many electronic headaches outside the engine bay to deal with, even back then for Mercedes. US cars had barely adopted OBD2 at that time...
Anyways, you would need to make an auxillary computer that can read the data needed to know if it should use electric or IC power at any given time, or both. It would require control of your fly by wire throttle, but a backup circuit to bypass it straight to the Megasquirt would be good insurance in case the electric part goes down it's not dead in the water. Things it would need to know are probably battery charge, current fuel consumption and load of the IC engine, and some sort of targets to hit to maximize mpg while not letting the battery get too low . Speaking of which, you also need to trigger regenerative braking so you can recharge.
But if someone figures it out and shares then it could be easier for everyone else.
I'm just worried it would go the way of the Windows Phone. I'm going to guess an X phone would be based on Android unless he made an in-house OS. He could still heavily modify Android for that, though.
I've had an iPhone since 2012. If I ever need to switch out of the ecosystem it will be a hard change since I'm so used to it.
Erik Prince has already done it...
So did a quick search for reviews and the first paragraph of this article directly addresses all my concerns with the Unconnect Erik Prince phone: https://defensereview.com/unplugged-up-phone-the-most-secure-and-private-smartphone-ever/
What... you don't trust the Juice...
How dare you suspect them of wanting to rule the world.
Relax bro, OJ's dead. ;)
Not open source, though, and very suspect.
lol… I trust Apple more than Musk