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Volvo's "Safety Car" Runs Windows 98
An anonymous submitter writes "MSNBC is carrying a report on Volvo's new "Safety Car." It sounds pretty cool, too, until you get to the part that mentions it runs Windows 98 as its operating system. Yikes! Be sure to reboot your car frequently to avoid crashes."
I'd bet money that the journalist flubbed this one, or its some elaborate trolling with MSNBC realizing that a 'safe' car running Win98 would get an instant Slashdotting.
BMWs iDrive System on the BMW745i is the real deal.
iDrive consists of a computer that controls 270 functions (including basic climate and stereo settings), a center-mounted LCD screen and a console-mounted rotary pushbutton knob that works as the system's "mouse." It's an amazingly powerful system that BMW sees taking over almost all vehicle functions.
More info here.
Who says they'd need to tweak the OS? I would think they could run a standard kernel and do their own application on top of it without that application being public. Or am I missing something, like anything that runs ON linux must be open source too. I'm not sure, I haven't actually read the license stuff all the way through.
You wouldnt have to release the tweaks as long as you didnt release the code as a product if I remember correctly. Just have the binaries run on the car and don't release them to the public. Right? I could be wrong.
I'd like to see linux circa 1998 try and power a car.
:)
Well in 1998 2.0 was the kernel of the day, and from memory 2.0 was faily stable. Also I seem to remember that some embeded stuff is based on this kernel, so this would make it quite capible for running a car.
I think this article is a little misleading. I don't think all the computer system in the car would be running windows 98, just what the user(driver?) can see. I think the real time stuff would be running a RTOS, like QNX.
Oh yeah OS'es don't power cars, petrol/desile/electrons do
Maybe the gimmicky interface parts run windows CE (this volvo car isnt all that new, i remember reading about it a long time ago), but either way the crucial components would never be left to something that centralized.
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I drove the Volvo that the MIT Media Lab used to collect 'predictive' data for the lane-change detection etc. It was an interesting experience - driving in Boston wearing a small fiber optic video camera taped (!) to some cheap safety glasses, several video cameras pointing every which way, and sensors on the steering wheel, brake pedal, and gas pedal to collect the data.
:) Well worth all of the funny looks I got on I-95.
The theory was that they would use the data to predict when you were *about* to change lanes - and set off an alarm if there were a car in your way. I'd be interested to know if they actually succeeded in doing this.
This wasn't a fully automated process - there was a co-driver who you had to tell when you were going to change lanes, turn, etc., then he would punch the appropriate action into a laptop.
Then again, I got paid $20 for the hour or so it took, so I'm not complaining
> I'd like to see linux circa 1998 try and power a car.
It's 2002 and they've chosen win98 for their new model.
Linux's usability in 98 doesn't matter. It's more than capable of running a car today...
Common sense is not so common.
I would like to challenge y'all step beyond the specific OS choice and consider the technological implications of this article. For example:
This points towards the impending implementation of ubiquitous computing that's been talked about for years. It seems that embedded computers have reached adequate power that we can start using similar platforms in them that we use in PC's/servers. That OQO can deliver a PC that fits in a pocket gives a picture of how the size a gadget you can put computers in. This will explode the availablity of programming knowhow available to producers of all manner of gadgets. Your PC program and interface development C / VB/ Java / KDE etc skills for PC's and servers may soon be directly applicable to VCR's, refridgerators, traffic lights, and is already applicable to some mobile phones. There are a number of avenues to explore in this direction which would be more interesting then squabling over the platform choice for this vehicle.
It might not happen in this decade- but you are starting to see the change in the face of the computer. Already, I know hospitals where the complex tasks of registering patients and services rendered are accomplished by staff walking around with card scanners and portable computers. The office worker is leaving the office. Think about your JOBS and possibilities. There is enormous potential for innovation in applications here and interfaces here.
Sigh, I guess we should get back to the BSOD / M$ squabble.
My motto: "A cat is no trade for integrity."