I haven’t been excited about a car in quite a while, and I’m definitely not a pickup truck fan. That said, I’m on the waiting list for Slate because:
- Minimal electronics and no call-home. Almost every other vehicle on the market today (including all EVs) have OTA telemetry and insane data collection policies. The Slate will use your phone connection (at your option) to download OTAs if needed
- Cheap for what you get. Assuming the quality is OK sub-$30K without rebates gets you decent range and NACS charging
- Highly customizable - get what you need, and nothing else
That said, it’s a Bezos-backed automotive startup who hasn’t delivered a product yet, so there is clearly a lot of potential downside here.
I wish it had even just a basic infotainment screen and speakers with apple carplay / android auto. Literally just a screen to project your phone on to.
Also, power windows. I get it, crank windows are easier to repair, but a little convenience would be great.
The beauty of the Slate is that, if infotainment is important to you, you can easily add it. It’ll take a double din head unit, theres lots of carplay ones on the market for a few hundred bucks, add speakers of your choice, done.
For everyone else, they’re not stuck paying for features they don’t want.
You can buy that for less than $100 aftermarket.
But will it have the din slot to add it?
They just attach anywhere. It’s a display.
https://a.co/d/0mUuJ5J
According to their online builder, you can get speakers and a tablet mount, putting your own tablet in. Or just using your phone directly. Power windows are also available.
if only phones had screens.
Oh so I guess I’ll just project my phone’s screen on to my phone screen then. The purpose of projecting on to a bigger screen is so I don’t have to fiddle with my phone for navigation, and it’s also easier to look at a big screen near your eye level instead of a small phone screen crudely hanging on to an A/C vent or the windshield.