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Open Source Autos Hit the Streets in Spain

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the racing-at-slow-speeds dept.

markdowling writes "BBC News has a story about electrically powered tourist cars in Cordoba which provide tourist information in French, English and Spanish as landmarks are passed. The promoter, Alfredo Romeo, calls them Blobjects which he heard described in a speech by Bruce Sterling. The car's tourist guide software is open source - Romeo's quoted reason: 'With proprietary software, innovation comes from the people in marketing. But with open source, innovation comes from the guy who is really in the market. It comes from someone who knows the city.'"

8 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. More at Global Electric Motorcars Web Site by Hulkster · · Score: 4, Informative
    For those interested in more details about the GEM car and some MUCH better pictures than the small ones in the BBC article, here's GEM's web site.

    Ironically, the Wikipedia Blobject article says it "needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. This article has been tagged since April 2005" - you'd think that all those "hip" Blogject'ers would have made this entry super cool and happening.

    Concrete Cam is up and running.

    1. Re:More at Global Electric Motorcars Web Site by garcia · · Score: 4, Informative

      Best of all, for all of its innovative design, GEM is suprisingly affordable.

      Yeah, the GEM is surprisingly affordable but it certainly doesn't have an "innovative design" as it's just about the same as any electric golf cart with a roof and seatbelts.

  2. Informative Link by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Informative


    The promoter, Alfredo Romeo, calls them Blobjects which he heard described in a speech by Bruce Sterling.

    Here's a link to the Bruce Sterling speech, referenced by Alfredo Romeo, courtesy of
    boingboing.

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    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  3. Link to Alfredo Romeo's Website by 8127972 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Link to the Alfredo Romeo website in English with some interesting details on these cars.

    --
    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
  4. Misleading title by Red+Flayer · · Score: 2, Informative

    My chauffeur is sick, anyone know where to find a driver for this peripheral?

    Seriously, the car operating software is not open-source... it's the navigational system software that is. The owner of the company makes a valid point about marketing-driven vs. user-driven software, but I surmise that this is a great example of OS working in the market...

    It's cheaper to use open-source in some circumstances.

    However, it is very misleading to write that the car is open-source.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  5. See more here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Neighborhood EV's for tourist spots

  6. Re:No regen brakes by entirety · · Score: 2, Informative

    From the 2005 user manual... ----snip----- Speed Control: GE solid state controller with: * Motor thermal protection * Battery under-voltage protection * Regenerative brakes ----------Looks regenerative to me. * Top speed regulation ----end snip--

  7. About the code and the company who wrote it by teoruiz · · Score: 2, Informative

    To answer a couple of comments above, I'll say that the company who wrote the software is Yaco S.L., a little OpenSource company based in Sevilla, in south Spain.

    The code itself was wrote using several free technologies such as wxWidgets+Python, SQLObject+MySQL and GPS Drive. It is supossed to be available soon, as soon as possible.

    --
    "Res publica non dominetur"