The Slate App & Menu System: Hope, Fears, Announcements, Demos

[AZFox]

Where?

It's in the telematics module, not the fob.

 

[FlyHappy]

well, well, well...
this is very exciting, jackpot, indeed!

I'm very gratified to see "remote start, accessories on" spelled out!

another point of interest comes from the telematics module... even thogh its under the "Fleet management" section, the fact that "Slate App integration" and "GPS Location" are both present... I'd hope this means that even non-fleet customers would get GPS loction via the Slate app.

I don't know why I'm surprised that the "ignition" and CCU come from the same company; and what a low-key company it is....

 

[E90400K]

Could this be it?

CyberCogs CC-SGI100 Secure Gateway/Immobilizer
and CC-FOB100 combination

The key fob looks suspiciously like Slate's. And it uses RFID.

That is what my 2006 BMW E90 used as a key. Latched into a slot on the dash, push button ignition start for the ICE.

Worked flawlessly for 19 years.

 

[Orley]

Good find, SLP. I added that info to my Slate file.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

Might have hit the jackpot here. Here's the datasheet for a Combined Charging Unit that aligns nicely with Slate specs: https://www.cybercogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/cybercogs_obc_rev0d.pdf

*heavy breathing*

 

[MontesDesigns]

can't wait to 3d print my own fob lol

 

[FlyHappy]

That is what my 2006 BMW E90 used as a key. Latched into a slot on the dash, push button ignition start for the ICE.

Worked flawlessly for 19 years.

Kinda doubtful this is the *same one, though. Company is newer then that, and declares all "designed and built in the US", along with saying created specifically for EV industry.

 

[sodamo]

This. Look at all the topics we nitpick on here on this forum. We analyze every picture down to the pixel. If we got some screenshots of the app, our discussions would be off the charts!

I also have a feeling that we won't be exposed to as much information ahead of time that we'd like. When the first forum member gets their Slate, this place is going to be bonkers! I hope the front-line first-shift folks are good sports about it. Poor Skippy is going to an event and we already gave them a huge list of things to carefully examine. Imagine the requests to the first person with a Slate sitting in their driveway...

Once we start getting hands on, actual owners, feedback forum administrator may have a challenge with organization given how we tend to wander regardless of thread original topic.

 

[E90400K]

Kinda doubtful this is the *same one, though. Company is newer then that, and declares all "designed and built in the US", along with saying created specifically for EV industry.

So, they copied what BMW did 20 years ago. I didn't say it was the same exact key from the same exact company. I said more clearly as that is the same type of key (system) the E90 used; i.e. the fob locks into a slot in the dash and wakes up/turns on the car.

 

[AZFox]

So, they copied what BMW did 20 years ago. I didn't say it was the same exact key from the same exact company. I said more clearly as that is the same type of key (system) the E90 used; i.e. the fob locks into a slot in the dash and wakes up/turns on the car.

Similar form factor with upgraded technology

 

[E90400K]

Similar form factor with upgraded technology

One would hope after 20 years, but then again no one ever stole my E90. I think it is a great system because it puts the fob in a proper place in the car and forces you to keep track of it. Less likely to lose the key.

 

[Ali]

Fellow developer here. Good apps used to require months of development efforts, but that's no longer the case. I am sure they will concoct something.

However. I recon that hardware companies are fundamentally incapable of hiring good devs in particular and fostering healthy software development environment in general. Just look at Volkswagen -- great hardware, utterly useless and broken software despite literal billions spent on it. The same with just about any other company with strong hardware engineering emphasis: Hyundai, Honda, Ford, etc. Each and every one of them produce crap apps. Even their websites are half-baked fossilized crap.

Tesla is a software-first company in my opinion and it stands out.

So I'm not expecting much from Slate's app. It will probably be subpar. But honestly, that's not a deal breaker.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

Fellow developer here. Good apps used to require months of development efforts, but that's no longer the case. I am sure they will concoct something.

However. I recon that hardware companies are fundamentally incapable of hiring good devs in particular and fostering healthy software development environment in general. Just look at Volkswagen -- great hardware, utterly useless and broken software despite literal billions spent on it. The same with just about any other company with strong hardware engineering emphasis: Hyundai, Honda, Ford, etc. Each and every one of them produce crap apps. Even their websites are half-baked fossilized crap.

Tesla is a software-first company in my opinion and it stands out.

So I'm not expecting much from Slate's app. It will probably be subpar. But honestly, that's not a deal breaker.

💯
My son is a software engineer and I begged him to work for Slate. He simply said “not a chance” and is working in BI for veterinary/medical. He’s driving the Camry I bought him in college and doesn’t seem to care what takes him from A to B.

 

[slp]

Fellow developer here. Good apps used to require months of development efforts, but that's no longer the case. I am sure they will concoct something.

However. I recon that hardware companies are fundamentally incapable of hiring good devs in particular and fostering healthy software development environment in general. Just look at Volkswagen -- great hardware, utterly useless and broken software despite literal billions spent on it. The same with just about any other company with strong hardware engineering emphasis: Hyundai, Honda, Ford, etc. Each and every one of them produce crap apps. Even their websites are half-baked fossilized crap.

Tesla is a software-first company in my opinion and it stands out.

So I'm not expecting much from Slate's app. It will probably be subpar. But honestly, that's not a deal breaker.

I’ve been In software development for around 4 decades now. It’s true that you can put out higher quality apps quicker now than in the past. AI coding tools have made some impressive progress in a pretty short time. I have gone from being completely unimpressed and constantly fixing its code to using it to write some fairly complex stuff, much sooner than I thought. It has impressed me lately with code reviews and debugging. Sometimes I have to tell it to try again a few times, but it has found things in minutes that would have been hours of line-by-line debugging just a couple years ago.

With former Amazon executives involved, I’m sure they have access to some top-tier software talent. Though the app is probably going to be pretty basic. It doesn’t need to do that much. As long as it can configure vehicle settings, update firmware, surface diagnostic data, and provide SOC and other data needed by the native mapping apps for EV routing, that’s all I care about. Any Slate U content would probably just be a web view. I’m not too concerned about it. I’m sure it’s getting plenty of testing internally.

I did apply for one of their postings, but aside from the automated acknowledgment, I haven’t heard anything back.

 

[FlyHappy]

With former Amazon executives involved, I’m sure they have access to some top-tier software talent. Though the app is probably going to be pretty basic. It doesn’t need to do that much. As long as it can configure vehicle settings, update firmware, surface diagnostic data, and provide SOC and other data needed by the native mapping apps for EV routing, that’s all I care about. Any Slate U content would probably just be a web view. I’m not too concerned about it. I’m sure it’s getting plenty of testing internally.

It is doubtful those former Amazoners have any impact on Slate sw dev.
The execs came from the consumer/market side, nary a name from AWS.
I am somewhat confident that Slate cannot be salary competitive for the average competent AWS SWE; they simply have more lucrative employment choices.

If you look closely at the backgrounds of "Chiefs" and leads at Slate, they prominently come from Chrysler, Harley, Tesla (but not "tech"), Amazon (but not "tech"). Note that Slate has no named CTO.

As a group, they are experienced in manufacturing, design, physical engineering... but not software; and that's okay. I expect little from their software, just need reliable interfaces to the 3rd party components they are relying on.