Open Source Autos Hit the Streets in Spain

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.'"

Comments

More at Global Electric Motorcars Web Site

[Hulkster]

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.

Re:More at Global Electric Motorcars Web Site

[garcia]

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.

So one tiny part of the car is open source

[blowdart]

But that apparently means slashdot can call the whole car open source.

Is there anything factual these days in topics, or is it just astroturfing for OSTG?

pun?

[jshaped]

"The promoter, Alfredo Romeo,..."

did anybody else read this as Alfa Romeo?

Informative Link

[TripMaster Monkey]

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.

Slow...

[BrookHarty]

These GEM's are really niche market. Great for little towns where its 20mph or less, but if you hold up traffic then they are in the wrong place. Just as golf carts in the USA, they are a pain in the ass when given the right of way.

GEMcar.com even says "build the town/neighborhood around the car"..

+1 Insightful?

[Rurik]

'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.'

Is it possible to give a quoted source in an article +1 for Insightful?

Optimism

[truckaxle]

It costs about US$50 (£28) for a two-hour rental

This sounds low and optimistic. I wish them luck but when you are dealing with the public you have to design for the lowest common denominator and that can be surprisingly low. Liability insurance will cost an arm and leg for this venture.

Also there is a certain sense of entitlement and disrespect of others or common property that is engrained in the public mind. This is why projects that attempt to altrustically provide free public bicycles often (always?) fail.

But the open source software sounds cool.

Sensationalist Headline?

[Gothmolly]

"open source auto" = "a regular car with a tour guide program which is ostensibly open source".

Big difference, there, "Scuttlemonkey".

No regen brakes

[Migraineman]

I find it difficult to believe that an EV manufacturer would product a series of EV's that don't include regenerative brakes. Another reader commented that this is "a modified golf cart," and I'd have to say he's right. I'd have *some* respect for these folks if they had regen brakes as an option, or had "regen + hydraulic backup." As it stands, it really is just a golf cart with a NEV rating. Meh ...

Worstest word evar!

[Otter]

I've had a series of JE's as new candidates for Worst Word Ever emerge -- I believe that most recently "malternative" knocked off "blogmarklet".

But "blobject" is a simply a horror of Lovecraftian proportions.

As an Amuricuhn...

[eno2001]

...I wouldn't be caught dea in one of those disasters on wheels. Here is why:

1. It's too small. I weigh about 450 Lbs due to my healthy and steady Amuricuhn diet of fast food and convenience snacks. I might be able to sit in it by myself, but I'd like to have my wife and kids with me and I don't see how that little thing is going to handle 1400 Lbs total for my family of three.

2. Is uses electricity which is inferior to petroleum for the amount of energy produced per gallon. One gallon of electricity gets you what? Ten feet mabye? Sorry, but give me an Escalade with extra gas tanks.

3. It looks wimpy. Just picture yourself going around full throttle at 20 MPH! When I get in a car, I want to go 0-80 in no more than 15 seconds. Again, give me an Escalade.

4. Where's the DVD player? My son likes to ask a lot of stupid questions about stuff we're driving past when we're on vacation. Like when we drove past the Grand Canyon, he asked if we could get out and look at it. For god sakes! If god had intended for us to actually walk around natural formations like that he would have made us donkeys or billy goats instead of people. My kid needs to have his eyes locked on a DVD or video game so he doesn't ask stupid questions. That's a MAJOR flaw in the design of this thing.

5. IF these things could hit 80-150 miles an hour, they'd also need radar detectors to keep the cops from being able to illegitimately raise revenue by ticketing me when I was well in control of the car. I guess it doesn't matter though since they TOP OUT at 20 MPH! It also doesn't matter because I won't be putting my sweet Amuricuhn ass in one of those pencil necked carts.

6. They're open to the outside. If I want a tan, I'm going to lie on the beach, not sweat like crazy in a car. Who in their right mind would ever want a car that's open? I can count the number of times that my car windows are open here in the U.S. of A. in a year on one hand. I prefer to have my AC blasting on full if it's over 65 F because it keeps me from sweating. I also like the fact that it blows the fragrance from my car air freshener around and makes the car smell like the clean outdoors just the way mother nature intended.

7. There's no stereo system. When I drive I like to avoid being distracted, so I put the stereo up on full volume to drown out any yammering my wife and kid might be sending my way. Whatever they have to say is unimportant and I like Kidd Rock and Eminem. They're much more entertaining.

8. These things are funded by a communist government. I was kind of shocked to find out that Cordoba is a communist run city. I thought the only place the red menace still existed was Cuba and China. I guess we're going to have to pre-emptively strike Cordoba before they get us. They're probably getting together some terrorists to try and take down the good old U.S. of A. Our best and safest route is to probably send some troops down to South America to take care of those uppity commies in Cordoba.

9. Open source software promotes piracy and communism. The use of open source on these "cars" probably violates IP laws in every civilized capitalist nation. If this jackass tried to start a similar business here, I can guaran-damn-tee you that he'd be face to face with CIA and FBI agents wanting to see his past affiliations.

We've got to protect Amuricuh. Our homeland security should be the first thing on everyone's mind on the entire planet because we've got the big guns. Something goes wrong here and we get taken over by the commies, you know they'll use our firepower against all the sissy nations of the world the at turn tail at the slightest sign of trouble. Give us some respect and don't drive these monstrosities anywhere but into the ground.