Specialist repair centres and a policy against out of brand repairs is something Tesla has done already.

I can't even begin to imagine how a walled garden for a car would look like. Perhaps there are examples from already existing car manufacturers.

John Deere?

I mean, a lot of the recent right-to-repair controversy in the US has been centered around farmers, and their ongoing battles against machine producers / makers like John Deere.

The gist is that you can't do jack sh!t on a modern John Deere, because all the software involved to diagnose/modify/operate their machines are strictly proprietary, and only available to the company, or authorized dealers and repair shops.

Here's how this could work with personal cars:

Let's say you purchase a Apple Car, and after a month the low washer fluid message starts flashing. Not only does it flash, but every 10 minutes or so it interferes with your whole media system, with some voice stating that you need to fill up on washer fluid.

Turns out your washer fluid level is actually OK, seems to be some sensor error, or bug in the software.

Problem is - you can't touch the car, mechanically or the software. Any modifications will essentially brick the car.

Only way to get this error fixed, is to bring the car to some Apple repair shop, where a tech will fix the problem in 30 seconds, and bill you $1000 for the work.

Other than the bricking part, that's the kind of stuff farmers are experiencing with quite expensive machines.

The John Deere example is so bad it almost seems manufactured to push out small farmers. It seems like the opposite of a system that claims to be about markets leading to efficiency.

I’m not sure you have to look too much further than Tesla for a taste of it.

When Keurig does it, it's widely panned. When $favoriteCompany does it, it's hailed as innovation and welcomed with open arms and open pockets.

We shouldn't accept it anywhere. We need strong laws to prevent anyone from doing this.

Easy. Most important parts are chipped and are coded to only work with each other. Without the private keys you can't make any other genuine part from another Apple car to work in your car.

They started doing that with iPhones.

Stallman is rolling in his grave. And he's not even dead yet.

Taking your car today to a factory dealer or authorized shop for repairs and servicing is akin to a walled garden. They would use factory parts and factory pricing.

There are lots of reasons why you might want to stay inside the walled garden. The higher the value of the car, the stronger they become.

Actually, most equipment in a modern BMW is keyed to that particular vehicle and cannot be replaced without a visit to the dealer. Everything from the seats, to the radio, to the headlights are all on a CAN bus and have to be coded to that specific car before they will work.

Try taking your non-Tesla EV to a Tesla DC charging station, or vice versa. They've finally announced a CCS1 adapter for the Korean market, but there's nothing for the US yet.

The high end car market is already a walled garden for the most part.

Cars that charge with lighting port...

Please don't waste people's time with comments like this.

I mean it's an interesting point. Tesla made their own charging plug because they didn't like J1772, who's to say Apple wouldn't do the same? It's the one part of Apple's track record I don't think anyone can possibly argue against.

If the landscape is dotted with three types of chargers, two of which are mutually incompatible, what does that mean for consumers and range?

> because they didn't like J1772

That's a polite interpretation. I assume the real reason is they wanted to create a walled garden. Seems like the EU, at least, forced their hand on that one.

Please don't waste people's time with comments like this.