For those complaining about our infotainment system

I'll be honest, I think the 2017+ Infotainment system is the best of any car I've owned. Maybe that says something about the cars I've owned... Coming from a Veloster, it's a big step up. I can't really imagine what others are driving prior to the CX-5 that they're complaining that much about the system, you'd have to imagine they downgraded vehicles if it's that big of an issue.
 
Coming from a 15 year old Escape I think its fine LOL. It's just to slow when you first startup.
 
I didn't like it when I first took it for a test drive. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me, cause I liked the car that much. But now after driving it for a month or so, I like it a lot. I never have to take my eyes off the road. I got all the buttons in front of the console memorized. So it's easy to surf through settings while driving and if I want to use navigation, I just use voice to put in address.
 
My infotainment system works much better than what I had in my 2003 Honda Element. I love that I have 100's of podcasts on the USB to entertain me while I drive to and from work.
 
I have had the luxury/opportunity to test drive 10 different infotainment system over the course of last 7 months. Why? I am part of a team who's trying to utilize certain aspects of AI/Machine Learning in combination with CA company - Blackberry for passenger vehicles, specifically QNX.
Leaving aside FEATURES like - Apple CarPlay / Android Auto and few quirks with BT ; Mazda's implementation is perhaps one of the best we have seen. Internally. You won't believe the TON of crap that's there in the internal guts of other cars. Surprisingly, the designers of this Infotainment system concentrated on performance and low usage of memory / heavy on cache. Every other car manufacturer's stuff we are seeing loads of I/O calls. Next, a large chuck of stuff is given by / written by / customized by Bosch! That was surprising.
We do NOT have access to code base. It's on a need by basis with snippets, descriptions given back to us. QNX OS is so mind-blowing in terms of speed of execution: its actually scary.
See here.
 
If there was a "like" function for posts, I'd being liking the previous post from bmninda. Nicely said and good insight as well. Thanks!!
 
I'll be honest, I think the 2017+ Infotainment system is the best of any car I've owned. Maybe that says something about the cars I've owned... Coming from a Veloster, it's a big step up. I can't really imagine what others are driving prior to the CX-5 that they're complaining that much about the system, you'd have to imagine they downgraded vehicles if it's that big of an issue.

Right? I don't have a clue how some people just HATE this thing. Pro Reviewers usually give it high marks, too.
Having said that, I was in a 2018 or 19 F150 this past week. Synch usually gets bashed a lot too, but I thought it was really nice.
 
Won't force a change. Will force a new version of the software. LOL
 
That is the most important part. Physical access to any computer and enough time = compromise

This.

Physical access opens up multiple vectors to attack. Yes, physical access to a car is more likely than, say, your desktop at home or work, but it's still a challenge to make happen and keep it hidden. I also wonder if that was on the previous version of the infotainment software that allowed the easy hack to enable AndroidAuto.
 
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I have had the luxury/opportunity to test drive 10 different infotainment system over the course of last 7 months. Why? I am part of a team who's trying to utilize certain aspects of AI/Machine Learning in combination with CA company - Blackberry for passenger vehicles, specifically QNX.
Leaving aside FEATURES like - Apple CarPlay / Android Auto and few quirks with BT ; Mazda's implementation is perhaps one of the best we have seen. Internally. You won't believe the TON of crap that's there in the internal guts of other cars. Surprisingly, the designers of this Infotainment system concentrated on performance and low usage of memory / heavy on cache. Every other car manufacturer's stuff we are seeing loads of I/O calls. Next, a large chuck of stuff is given by / written by / customized by Bosch! That was surprising.
We do NOT have access to code base. It's on a need by basis with snippets, descriptions given back to us. QNX OS is so mind-blowing in terms of speed of execution: its actually scary.
See here.

Also a software developer, so your post and the article were kinda cool to read. I wonder if some of the issues come from many newer developers never work in a limited resource environment, or just don't think about it too much. I'm there now, but earlier in my career I was working on a system that used satellite for connectivity and had rather fast response time requirements, so we designed the heck out of it for performance. The app I support now doesn't have those limitations, but a couple of us still have that habit. We tick off some of the developers when we point out places where excess resources are used without a decent reason. Our mantra is design for performance, code for maintainability, but sometimes ... But I digress, nice view into developing these systems!
 
I think Mazda in US turned off wifi so I don't think they can ping location to a server real time. I also think the new models can not be hacked with a usb as Mazda stopped that so the hack set discussed on here no longer works on late microcode. If they can hack wifi to be on with a usb plugged in then... but I do not think it is possible with the recent microcode.
 
Won't force a change. Will force a new version of the software. LOL

It is bad press. Nothing causes a company to change more than bad press! The benefit of CarPlay and Android is simply that if anything is buggy with the system - Apple and Google get the blame - not Mazda. :)
 
It is bad press. Nothing causes a company to change more than bad press! The benefit of CarPlay and Android is simply that if anything is buggy with the system - Apple and Google get the blame - not Mazda. :)

No; people will take it to the dealer! That's one reason why car makers are kind of skeptical of it. Even the makers that have put CarPlay and Android in are searching for alternatives.

I recall a few months ago Pandora pushed out a buggy update and even here there were several questions about why it wasn't working. People just don't realize the chain of technology involved.
 
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Also a software developer, so your post and the article were kinda cool to read. I wonder if some of the issues come from many newer developers never work in a limited resource environment, or just don't think about it too much. I'm there now, but earlier in my career I was working on a system that used satellite for connectivity and had rather fast response time requirements, so we designed the heck out of it for performance. The app I support now doesn't have those limitations, but a couple of us still have that habit. We tick off some of the developers when we point out places where excess resources are used without a decent reason. Our mantra is design for performance, code for maintainability, but sometimes ... But I digress, nice view into developing these systems!

I think it has to do with the philosophy. Mazda's general execution from bodywork all the way to performance seems very deliberate, so one would expect them to bring the same level of diligence in usability/ operator experience. While I do think it could be better, from my experience with 30+ autos last year, I can say unequivocally that the Mazda system is very well put together for a system that is over 4 years old. I'd like to try the new Audi and Volvo ones especially with OTA functionality.

Funny enough, Toyota and Mazda who have historically been more on the conservative side recently announced they are teaming up for their respective next generation Infotainment systems. Frankly, I have not been a fan of Toyota's Entune system so I am not sure what to think of this. Either way, I think we will see major gains in this area.
 
The only thing that drives me absolutely bananas is when I change the radio station using the steering wheel control (as you should while driving) the display does not show you what station you choose unless you are right on the entertainment window. Why can't it show a quick pop-up on the top bar?
 
My biggest pet peeve is the unresponsiveness at startup. And the fact that it has to rebuild the contact pronunciation or whatever so you can call people every time.

One of the things I really like is that you can mix sources in favorites. Most cars force you to have different presets for each source.
 
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