This interview with Farley literally answers every software gremlin post on this site

[PhillyYa]

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[hybrid2bev]

Here’s the whole interview.

 

[Logal727]

Yep, this is why I give Ford credit for where it is due, the way they implemented this is very hard and they’ve been mostly successful, if they had waited for the Tesla model we would not have Mach-Es yet.

 

[DevSecOps]

Yep, this is why I give Ford credit for where it is due, the way they implemented this is very hard and they’ve been mostly successful, if they had waited for the Tesla model we would not have Mach-Es yet.

Interesting take ... I look at more like incompetence. When they designed the MachE they should have ensured that everything works together. They should have hired people who know how to design software for cars. It's as if they just threw something together to get it out the door and we have to bear the brunt of it.

If I were to start selling things to customers to secure critical operations without knowing how it all works together and they suffered a catastrophic loss I'm sure I would be held for negligence. Especially if I went on twitter and said, "Well it's hard and we didn't plan well to make sure they talk together".

 

[Logal727]

Interesting take ... I look at more like incompetence. When they designed the MachE they should have ensured that everything works together. They should have hired people who know how to design software for cars. It's as if they just threw something together to get it out the door and we have to bear the brunt of it.

If I were to start selling things to customers to secure critical operations without knowing how it all works together and they suffered a catastrophic loss I'm sure I would be held for negligence. Especially if I went on twitter and said, "Well it's hard and we didn't plan well to make sure they talk together".

I’m not sure where they haven’t delivered? Sure it’s taken way longer. But they are now one of the top selling EV companies and were able to ship something in one of the hottest sales period on record. We all knew this was a gen1 product, right?

 

[DevSecOps]

I’m not sure where they haven’t delivered? Sure it’s taken way longer. But they are now one of the top selling EV companies and were able to ship something in one of the hottest sales period on record. We all knew this was a gen1 product, right?

You know I defended Ford for a long time. It finally wore on me because of lack of transparency, failure to fix bugs, and regression. Yes we all had hopes of the promise to improve the car over time.

Being real about it... I don't know where my car has improved in 2 years, except for a slightly better charge curve. GTs came with BC. GTs came with frunk access. PaaK worked better when I first got the car. I didn't experience profile bugs or drive mode bugs until this year, UI got worse. For gosh sakes we can't even get real release notes... Can we blame Bosch for that too?

Farley's comments come off to me as preemptive to more bad news. We can't give you BC 1.2, because it's too hard with all our vendors, as an example. He's full of excuses and some people might be sympathetic to those excuses. I'm not.

 

[Logal727]

You know I defended Ford for a long time. It finally wore on me because of lack of transparency, failure to fix bugs, and regression. Yes we all had hopes of the promise to improve the car over time.

Being real about it... I don't know where my car has improved in 2 years, except for a slightly better charge curve. GTs came with BC. GTs came with frunk access. PaaK worked better when I first got the car. I didn't experience profile bugs or drive mode bugs until this year, UI got worse. For gosh sakes we can't even get real release notes... Can we blame Bosch for that too?

Farley's comments come off to me as preemptive to more bad news. We can't give you BC 1.2, because it's too hard with all our vendors, as an example. He's full of excuses and some people might be sympathetic to those excuses. I'm not.

Fair enough. I agree the weirdest thing about this vehicle is the inconsistency of experiences and that is probably down to using multiple vendors for everything. Cause I really don’t have any of those problems now (knock on wood). The only reason I think BC 1.2 is coming is cause they’ve figured out a way to monetize/profit from the upgrade for those who want it.

 

[SWO]

Interesting take ... I look at more like incompetence. When they designed the MachE they should have ensured that everything works together. They should have hired people who know how to design software for cars. It's as if they just threw something together to get it out the door and we have to bear the brunt of it.

If I were to start selling things to customers to secure critical operations without knowing how it all works together and they suffered a catastrophic loss I'm sure I would be held for negligence. Especially if I went on twitter and said, "Well it's hard and we didn't plan well to make sure they talk together".

Mach-E production began in late 2020, during the height of COVID. If they had taken the approach of engineering/building every module in-house and developing ground-up software for it when the supply chain was basically halted, where do you think Mach-E production would be today?

Look at all the problems GM has had with "Ultium" - and they just tried to develop their own battery architecture.

 

[DevSecOps]

Mach-E production began in late 2020, during the height of COVID. If they had taken the approach of engineering/building every module in-house and developing ground-up software for it when the supply chain was basically halted, where do you think Mach-E production would be today?

Look at all the problems GM has had with "Ultium" - and they just tried to develop their own battery architecture.

Your logic completely escapes me. I've founded two tech companies that were acquired and no way in hell I could use those excuses in the M&A process and get anywhere in life.

I suppose if you hire a plumber to replace your water heater and 20 days later your house catches fire you'd be willing to accept, "due to COVID we had to hire some random guy at Home Depot to do the work. We're sorry but it's too hard to find competent people right now."

If the car wasn't ready for prime time it should've been shelved until it was ready. That's how I was taught to do business. I want to be proud of what I ship, I never want to be defensive and stuck making excuses.

 

[Logal727]

Your logic completely escapes me. I've founded two tech companies that were acquired and no way in hell I could use those excuses in the M&A process and get anywhere in life.

I suppose if you hire a plumber to replace your water heater and 20 days later your house catches fire you'd be willing to accept, "due to COVID we had to hire some random guy at Home Depot to do the work. We're sorry but it's too hard to find competent people right now."

If the car wasn't ready for prime time it should've been shelved until it was ready. That's how I was taught to do business. I want to be proud of what I ship, I never want to be defensive and stuck making excuses.

Not seeing where it wasn’t ready for prime time? They shipped and continue to ship a product that has been very positively reviewed. I’d understand the plumber analogy if the product did not work at all or they never delivered on their OTA strategy (one of the few that have btw). They just gave themselves a harder task and struck while the iron was hot to enter market.

I find a more likely comparison to the barebones launch of the iPhone.
It launched without 3G, without copy and paste, web apps(lol) and no SDK showed up until a couple years later. But they got into market at the most opportune time.

 

[DevSecOps]

Not seeing where it wasn’t ready for prime time? They shipped and continue to ship a product that has been very positively reviewed. I’d understand the plumber analogy if the product did not work at all or they never delivered on their OTA strategy (one of the few that have btw). They just gave themselves a harder task and struck while the iron was hot to enter market.

I find a more likely comparison to the barebones launch of the iPhone.
It launched without 3G, without copy and paste, web apps(lol) and no SDK showed up until a couple years later. But they got into market at the most opportune time.

My point was in response to his statement "where would production be today". As a consumer I could care less where it is. I just want a product that works as it was promised. I don't own Ford stock. I don't care if they make or lose money. I held off for a year before purchasing because I wanted a GT. If I knew what I know now I would have waited even longer. Excuses after the fact put the problems squarely on the consumer instead of the supplier. I just don't agree with that mentality at all.

Like I said, some will be sympathetic to his excuses. Others won't. To each their own.

If he came out and said, "We've got a tremendous task at hand, COVID made life difficult, but we are hiring more developers and we are going to make good on our promises and fix these bugs. We are going to devote resources to making this car better." I would hold a vastly different feeling. I think he should own it, not make excuses for it. It's ok to speak to challenges when you own them.

 

[SWO]

Your logic completely escapes me. I've founded two tech companies that were acquired and no way in hell I could use those excuses in the M&A process and get anywhere in life.

I suppose if you hire a plumber to replace your water heater and 20 days later your house catches fire you'd be willing to accept, "due to COVID we had to hire some random guy at Home Depot to do the work. We're sorry but it's too hard to find competent people right now."

If the car wasn't ready for prime time it should've been shelved until it was ready. That's how I was taught to do business. I want to be proud of what I ship, I never want to be defensive and stuck making excuses.

For every tech weenie that owns a Mach-E, there's 2000 retirees who haven't even set up their PAAK.

Tech isn't limiting Mach-E sales right now. Cost is....and you're saying they should have made a product which would have delayed production and increased cost. That's not a good business proposition.

The correct version of your plumber analogy is waiting to sell your house until you've replaced the water heater that works with a new model that's backordered, and in the mean time the housing market crashes.

The car definitely isn't perfect, but it works fine for most people. Certainly a better execution than VW.

I think Ford is probably happy with the approach they took. That said, if Ford fails to deliver on their 2nd generation of EVs, that will be embarrassing.

 

[SWO]

My point was in response to his statement "where would production be today". As a consumer I could care less where it is.

Now you are changing your argument. I was responding to you saying that Ford was "incompetent" for not delaying production to come out with a more expensive vehicle.

As a consumer, no sh*t, I always want a better product - but I'm pretty sure Farley is glad they didn't delay bringing the Mach-E to production.

 

[DevSecOps]

For every tech weenie that owns a Mach-E, there's 2000 retirees who haven't even set up their PAAK.

My hatch opens on its own as it does for many other owners. I don't think those retirees want their walkers and oxygen tanks to get stolen.

Tech isn't limiting Mach-E sales right now. Cost is....

Is that why Rivian sold more R1T trucks in 2023 over MachE's at double the cost? I think we have different opinions here. I don't think it's tech as a whole, but rather all the negative press on the MME.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I think Ford is probably happy with the approach they took. That said, if Ford fails to deliver on their 2nd generation of EVs, that will be embarrassing.

If Ford is completely writing their software for the first time, I'm not sure whether to expect the software on Gen2 to be better or worse than what we have now...

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