Autocar is fast filling up with mentions of ‘software-defined vehicles’ – cars whose performance and functionality is primarily defined electronically rather than physically.
The computing power of the car becomes its ruling characteristic and the software for it can be improved and updated time and again, so that it’s never finished, rather in a constant state of flux.
The car industry is predictably excited about this idea. I suspect that any customers who have ever had an over-the-air software update go a bit wrong won’t be quite so keen.
As for me, I’m a bit puzzled how manufacturers can seriously be contemplating giving software an even greater role in the cars they will make in years to come while at least some of them are doing such an awful job with the stuff they’re making in 2025.
I’m not sure that the new Jaecoo 7 counts as an SDV, but it has certainly inspired something of a software-defined verdict. Honestly, this car is like some cautionary parable of terrible, dystopian motoring yet to come.
The 7 is the latest mid-sized SUV to arrive on the UK market from China. It’s made by the country’s fourth-largest manufacturer, Chery. It looks a bit like a Range Rover Velar that has been made on the bones of something slightly shorter. In a very broad-brush, box-ticky kind of way, it drives well enough.
You can get petrol and plug-in hybrid versions, and the latter proved to be quite refined and efficient, with predictable and obedient handling and ride comfort that, while a bit restless and wooden, is far from offensive.
None of that matters much, though, because the car’s software is so bad, affects so much and ultimately, by making you question the integrity of the wider design and engineering of the car simply by association, undermines the whole product. It’s a farce. Jaecoo’s digital deficiencies come at you gradually and so corrosively.
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Having borrowed a Jaecoo for 2 weeks, I can say this article is overblown and inaccurate. Lazy clickbait from Autocar. Yes, to comply with crash regulations, you have to turn off the ADAS systems every time you get in, but for this, and many other functions such as the heating / AC, there are gesture-control shortcuts. Adjusting the heating on the move takes a second, and isn't distracting. Also, Matt was clearly looking at the wrong setting. the odometer is an odometer, it records every mile travelled. There is a separate setting that breaks down the journey into EV miles, ICE miles and hybrid miles travelled - so either this is hyperbole for clicks, or the journalist should take a second to check he understands what he's looking at before making bold statements. I don't own a Jaecoo, but after a good time spent behind the wheel, I was impressed. I don't recognise the car in this article at all. TRY HARDER AUTOCAR.
The amount of software updates coming through and the near aggressive rate of development should mean this is all ironed out within 6 months. The savings made will last alot longer
I think it was Saab's that had a dash that you could at night at least use have how fast you were going,but, today, we apparently need to be so connected,constantly on a call like the people you walk by who have a drink in one hand and a mobile in the other totally oblivious to what's going on around them, I saw a video on YouTube of a young Girl merrily chatting away on a mobile for about a minute or so without looking where she was going, then she goes oh! Shit !! and just saves herself, so, yes, less tech or ways to customise your dash would be a great idea.