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Plug-and-Play for Automobile Embedded Systems
wskellenger writes "This article in the EE Times describes Autosar, a consortium of German automakers and suppliers that aims to standardize vehicle software infrastructure. In this way, vehicle software can be used in different ECUs, reducing complexity and development time for OEMs and suppliers."
The ugly fact is all these computers have not made our cars more reliable. Im not against computers in cars but they need to have programs as simple as possible and these programs should be open source.
If my computer crashes because of a bug I can replace it.
If my car crashes because of a computer bug, me , someone I care about or someone who could sue me could be injured or killed.
NOT EVEN CLOSE, it will allow them to completely control the the replacement time of your entire car. This will make engineered obsolecence (sp?) the current corporate darling even more controllable. The vendor can sunset the support for your car because of software/firmware upgrade issues...Think of M$'s OS upgrade cycle and how much a durable goods manufacturer would like to be able to emulate that kind of re-buy re-supply cycle. Of course with the DMCA, you will be forbidden to try and revers engineer parts, the warranty will be void if third party parts are used and the only place to buy certified parts is from the dealer at a 5000% mark-up. This spells COST COST COST COST for the consumer....
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
So,
At what point does all the computer bugs in your car create a point where you can legitimately invoke the lemon law provisions?
On a side note I started trailing a lady in a brand new BMW 7 series a couple of days ago. The car's emergency flashers were on and at the leisurely pace she was taking things I knew she wasn't aware of it.
So I pulled alongside at a redlight, fortunately she had her drivers side window down, so I shouted to her that her emergency flashers were on.
She looked really surprised and muttered something to the effect of "Oh really". Not a doubting oh really, but a surprised oh really.
Apparently there was no indicator inside the car telling her what was happening with her lights.
If I'm not mistaken the BMW 7 series has a Windows CE O/S? I've heard the 5 series does.
I know I'd be incredibly irritated to spend the kind of money she had in that BMW only to find it riddled with computer bugs.
Lastly, isn't it the law in the US that car makers have to "support" the vehicles they sell for 8 years?
Will MS still be willing to issue a BMW patch 8 years from now? They've certainly seemed to be trying to reduce the amount of time they support a particular version of their O/Ses.
Caution: Contents under pressure
I believe this will have a positive impact on the cost and maintenance of my future car. Lowering the cost from the current $100 to a future of $25 for one sensor/device may not have much of an effect, but for 100 different sensors it should have a very positive effect. And with the many manufacturere producing standards compliant sensors/devices the reliability of our vehicles is also bound to increase. I jut have a few questions here:
1. How will the DMCA affect this? Will we still be able to work on our own cars or will that be circumvention subject to DMCA? How about modifying the software (hacking in the pure sense) the software that runs my car - Will I be able to do that legally?
2. What about the black boxes that are now standard in cars? What data will it now store? Who owns that data? Who controls that data? Can I erase it? Can I refuse to let it be recorded? What happens when GPS is integrated?
3. What happens when I sell my car? Is the software included like it is now? Or does it have to be relicensed like when I sell a computer?