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When Appliances Revolt
conaone writes "From the "disconcerting" file, Baseline has a weird story about how the increase in use of embedded operating systems is causing strange things to happen to consumer products. Their example is the use of Windows CE in the BMW 745i, which apparently occasionally goes nuts. The best is the list of video clips showing off the possessed car."
So I have Windows Media Player here and can view the clips. I read some requests above this post that asked for summaries, so here are mine.
Crazy Trunk: The guy's Windows CE embedded device causes the brake lights (right side) on the trunk to flash at odd intervals. The device is in the rear passenger's right side.
Spitn' Key: The guy inserts his key into the car, lets go, and it falls out for no reason about three seconds later.
Phone Dead: The driver's car phone suddenly stops working about 5 seconds after the Windows CE device is powered on.
Transmission: This is scary. His car goes from 4th down to 1st gear (auto transmission car) and he nearly gets rear-ended by the SUV behind him
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Oh geez. I can't imagine this server is going to last long. Here's a (partial) mirror of the video content:
http://www.eyesores.net/mirror/bmw.php
but I will use mplayer :)
If the dashboard speed display switches to km/h from mph, you'll likely end up getting a ticket for going vastly *under* speed.
Nitpicking aside, if you could show criminal negligence on the part of the (car manufacturer|music publisher|software company), then you could still bring a suit against them regardless of any contract between you and them, or between them and another.
You cannot waive your right to sue for negligence.
The problem I heard with the 7 Series, is that the average age of its buyers is 50+. The average buyer is also the type that is very computer illiterate. So the problem is that these customers can't REMEMBER how the car works! BMW practically has to set up a customer support line to give instructions on how to interface with the car!
You can get the source for Windows CE. Look here. Even the licensing terms aren't too horrible (for MS).
No sig, sorry.
I've got a full mirror of all the videos here: WHEEEEE
It's awfully fun reading desktop programmers commenting on an article in a project management magazine.
Here's a few facts about your new-model car. The BMW is extreme with 70 electronic modules but the typical 2003 vehicle has 20 or 30 microprocessor-controlled modules, and the number is rising every year. These range from a door-switch module with 8K of code, through an engine controller with 256K/32K of ROM/RAM, to a navigation system at 8M/8M. Very few of these modules have a manufacturing cost above $100.
The OS in automotive controllers varies from a simple event loop at the low end through OSEK-compliant kernels in the midrange to QNX and its friends in the most complicated systems. If there's Linux in a controller, it will be as well-hidden as the Linux in Tivo. Engine and transmission controllers are designed for hard real-time operation and emphatically do not use anything remotely resembling a desktop or palmtop OS.
Software development starts with the premise that once it's built, you can't change the it, ever. This has enormous consequences for the way automotive code gets made. Most companies spec the hell out of these products, use a strict waterfall development process, are afraid to venture beyond the C language, and test endlessly. They are scared of agile methodologies and even of RUP. Productivity is pretty low, but on the other hand, the products are reliable.
Now, both the article and /. responses are full of misconceptions. There's not really much question about whether an OS vendor shares its source code. The real concern is reliability. There's not much question about who develops embedded software. Detroit is lousy with contractors. One billboard I see on my commute shows a toy car with the caption "about the only vehicle that doesn't run on our software. -- EDS" The GM guy's comment about 10 year old software has the obvious answer: his teenager's 1993 Chevy.
Win CE gets no respect from embedded software developers for several reasons. Chief among them are poor responsiveness, poor stability and code bloat. Typical comment, from an SAE conference presenter: "If you put an embedded system into a car, you still have a car. If you put a PC into a car, you have a PC with wheels."
Rather than rant any further, let me suggest reading any of the books on Jean Labrosse's site, EE Times and Embedded Systems Programming. And have fun! Embedded is where you can see software affect the real world.
Wow ! Did you check out the impressive list of items gone wrong and how many "functionning as designed" answers to them ? Now my job would certainly be a lot easier if I could also tell my customer to basically go f*** off for support ! Kudos BMW, great support this time *sarcasm*