AM FM radio in Cybertruck?

[Cybertruck2024]

Tesla doesn't go out of their way to cater to new car buyers in the sticks. Most people in the sticks buy used cars, people in the suburbs and cities are the ones with money to afford new car purchases. The real issue is the population density is so low in the sticks, very few potential customers, even if they did have plenty of money to spend on new car purchases.

Think about it, spending extra money on every car to cater to less than 5% of the market would be the definition of insanity. I'm a rural person who largely travels between a small town and an even more remote town on a dead-end road with a population less than 300 people that lacks any cellular service for miles. I just download Hi-Fi versions of the music I love from Tidal and put them on a 500 GB SSD. Sounds better, never have to worry about buffering.

I don't want to know what people on the radio are saying, for the most part they add nothing you need to know. A real waste of time. I would rather listen to a high-quality podcast or some really excellent music in Hi-Fi.

How about that stereo in the Cybertruck? From all reports, it sounds like it might be one of the best sounding stereos available in a stock vehicle today, at any price, with recording studio sound dynamics. Two large subwoofers, rich, clear, dimensional sound with excellent volume, it would be a real shame to waste that on AM with a bunch of idiots talking in your ear.

I won't argue the business model for Tesla, they are very smart at offering the bare minimum needed to excite buyers. You're certainly right they don't cater to smaller demographics, look at the CT for example, I'm sure they did the research and saw only a small percentage of people actually tow and gave us the battery they did because of this.

I'm still buying a CT and I have a FS order in for $120k. I love the truck and 95% of it will be great. Tesla cutting interior corners and offering the minimum is what they do, I'm going to become a repeat buyer despite this, because nothing drives as exciting as a Tesla. But it doesn't mean i can't complain about them being cheap and ignoring my needs outside of vehicle look and ride quality.

Short aside, I like to explore music and a good way to do this is flipping through new stations on XM. I also love to hear regional talk personalities, to better understand the people in areas I'm not familiar with. Variety is the spice of life, loading up a hard drive with music I'm familiar with is a way to stay narrowminded. Sometimes I want to be steered, not walled in.

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[CyberGus]

The determined and the desperate can install their own portable XM receiver via Bluetooth.

There's a 36-page thread on TMC about installing an XM module integrated with the main ECU:

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thr...-nearly-working-in-tesla-2022-model-3.271704/

 

[rudedawg78]

We can only hope there will be an 8-track option! I'm a modern guy so I won't miss the lack of phonograph! I like the 8-track tape hiss and cross-channel bleed you can't get with other formats. The best part is when it changes tracks in the middle of the song, that 1 second drop out and then that satisfying mechanical clunk. I miss it so much when listening to a cassette tape because you learn to expect the dropout at specific point of certain songs and it's such a letdown when it doesn't happen!

hahaha, I know exactly what you mean. I like the ruggedness and feel of an 8-track tape also.

 

[HaulingAss]

I'm still buying a CT and I have a FS order in for $120k. I love the truck and 95% of it will be great. Tesla cutting interior corners and offering the minimum is what they do, I'm going to become a repeat buyer despite this, because nothing drives as exciting as a Tesla. But it doesn't mean i can't complain about them being cheap and ignoring my needs outside of vehicle look and ride quality.

I'm more of a fan of the way Tesla cuts costs than the way legacy auto cuts costs. Tesla insists on high quality for reliability and longevity and a quality driving experience. Legacy auto has bean counters that just cheapen everything up until the entire car is an overweight pile of junk and then they have other people that slather things on top of that to make it look more premium. I can tell Elon hates that kind of two-faced deception. He is like me in that he likes things to be what they really are, he hates pigs with lipstick. Tesla just simplifies the car, and the methods used to construct it, to cut expenses while keeping quality and durability high.

As to your second point, yes, if you are a free person you are free to complain about whatever you like. But if a "good ride quality" to you means it has a soft, flexy chassis coupled to a heavy body with a soft cushy suspension, then Tesla will never provide you with a "good ride quality", you will have to go to legacy American makers for that. And this is what I love most about the way Tesla makes their cars drive.

Short aside, I like to explore music and a good way to do this is flipping through new stations on XM. I also love to hear regional talk personalities, to better understand the people in areas I'm not familiar with. Variety is the spice of life, loading up a hard drive with music I'm familiar with is a way to stay narrowminded. Sometimes I want to be steered, not walled in.

You don't have to load up a SSD with music you're familiar with, it's even easier to load it up with music you've never heard. With how cheap massive storage and music services with unlimited downloads are, you don't have to be selective, just put a shit-ton of music on there that you want to check out. Then, when you are outside of areas with cellular reception, where streaming services become unavailable, you can browse new music or podcasts to your heart's content. Massive storage at low prices has opened up new ways of doing things. Open your mind and free yourself. And you can do it in high-fidelity, far better than MP3 quality.

A stereo as nice as the one in Cybertruck deserves to have some high-quality source material, not satellite or AM radio. I had satellite radio in my F-150 but it was so awful sounding (and had irritating dropouts where I drive), there was no way I was going to pay to hear such crappy sound.

The variety of streaming services, when in areas with cellular reception, is astounding! And the capacity of a modern SSD allows unprecented amounts of hi-fi music you've never heard before to be kept at your fingertips to scan through at will. Unlimited music services are so cheap you can refresh the music on your SSDs as often as you like, at no additional charge. Some music services (maybe all?) even use AI to bring you stuff you've never heard but are likely to like. Yes, you have a right to complain, but with all the possibilities Tesla enables, it makes the one complaining look narrow-minded and set in their ways.

 

[Shygar]

Woah. The back screen can’t play movies while in motion? My kids are not going to be happy on road trips

Back screen definitely plays Netflix while moving. This is the first thing my kids do when I take them anywhere. But there is no bluetooth headphone settings yet. The sound only plays in the back but it takes over the sound controls of the whole car.

 

[Woodrick]

Back screen definitely plays Netflix while moving. This is the first thing my kids do when I take them anywhere. But there is no bluetooth headphone settings yet. The sound only plays in the back but it takes over the sound controls of the whole car.

Interesting, because the Bluetooth controls were added with the Christmas update.

 

[Cybertruck 1974]

Back screen definitely plays Netflix while moving. This is the first thing my kids do when I take them anywhere. But there is no bluetooth headphone settings yet. The sound only plays in the back but it takes over the sound controls of the whole car.

I saw a guy with a cyber truck playing music and played a game with headphones ond a controller connected with bluetooth. Posted in January.

 

[CyberJay]

You can get little AM radios to connect via Bluetooth or USB, but the signal will be bad: Big metal box with lots of AC inverters running.

I really wish they'd just retire AM already.

-Crissa

A lack of understanding of the value of AM doesn't qualify one to just wish it away. On the contrary it is HUGELY relevant and there are several groups trying to push some requirement to retain it.

Personally I dont mind not having it on my M-Y, because Iheartradio and WABC radio have their own apps, but it would be nice so I dont have to rely on my data plan....

 

[ÆCIII]

I think a good possible implementation of an AM receiver in an EV or Tesla, would be one integrated with the car's drive unit control systems, such that intelligent noise cancellation can be applied based on the speed or RPM of the electric motors, amount of regen, etc - if Tesla would be willing to do it. Sort of like phased noise cancellation in headphones, but applied in the RF and IF receiver stages of the AM radio instead.

Problem is it's also difficult to cancel noise without sacrificing some of the original signal or intelligence as well, but it could possibly still be much better than just a portable AM radio in the car.

I personally think we should keep AM radio relevant as long as possible and try to make it better. The frequencies have very long range at times when conditions are right for carrier waves skipping inside the ionosphere. There are also possible better ways of encoding than the original 'amplitude modulation', if standards could be developed, agreed on, and allowed by the FCC.

The way the world is going, we may need the backup redundancy one day offered by AM and HF Amateur Radio frequencies in case of digital and satellite network disruptions, because if those get knocked out, AM and HF will be among very few long range communication options we have left. Regardless of how glamorous, advanced, or impervious we think today's satellite, FM or streaming technologies are, there are always vulnerabilities and Achilles heels which could get them degraded or knocked out. Technology is created, but then some create technology specifically to destroy other technology. IMO we can't really have too much redundancy.

- ÆCIII

 

[Shygar]

Interesting, because the Bluetooth controls were added with the Christmas update.

There is no holiday update in the truck yet.

 

[jerhenderson]

"FM, no static at all." - Steely D.

Powerful voices.... ie politicians trying to get votes. That doesn't make AM relevant.

 

[Woodrick]

A lack of understanding of the value of AM doesn't qualify one to just wish it away. On the contrary it is HUGELY relevant and there are several groups trying to push some requirement to retain it.

Personally I dont mind not having it on my M-Y, because Iheartradio and WABC radio have their own apps, but it would be nice so I dont have to rely on my data plan....

IHeartRadio on AM? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.


Yes, there are several groups trying to push to retain it. And they all start with the AM broadcasters and funding from them.

Sure, the highway department AM radio broadcasts are a problem, but that's more an artifact that they are required to use AM than anything else. (Because not all cars have FM receivers -ROTFLMAO)
Those portable AM stations are much harder to setup than a portable FM one.

 

[Woodrick]

There is no holiday update in the truck yet.

What is in it? What version FSD does it indicate? (but is inactive)

 

[CyberGus]

This article pointedly demonstrates the futility of AM radio...


Alabama station in disbelief after 200-foot radio tower stolen
Radio station WJLX can no longer broadcast its AM programming since the incident

Feb. 8, 2024, 11:19 AM CST
By Katherine Itoh

A radio station in Alabama was forced to go silent after thieves stole its 200-foot radio tower and other equipment from a building.

The station, WJLX, sent a landscaping crew to the site Friday morning for spring cleaning, only to find the 200-foot radio tower gone. When a crew member called the station’s general manager to break the news, he was in disbelief.

“What do you mean the tower is gone? Are you sure you’re in the right place? I actually used more colorful words than that,” Brett Elmore recounted to NBC News. “He said there’s wires all over the ground and the tower is gone.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...belief-200-foot-radio-tower-stolen-rcna137877

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