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Car computer crashes, literally.
WeThree writes "
A German couple drove their BMW with great confidence under control of its
computerized satellite navigation. Indeed, they drove it past a stop sign,
down a ferry ramp, and into the Havel River in Caputh, near Potsdam/Berlin,
Germany. The computer system reportedly neglected to tell them they needed
to wait for the ferry." Looks like it's not quite ready to put in autodrive mode yet.
Use some common sense. If you need to have your computer to tell you to wait for the ferry, maybe you shouldn't be driving.
Sounds like a case for the "Too stupid to live" files.
couple of weeks ago a very similiar case
was in the newspapers / radio -
however, it was a polish couple
and a Mercedes instead of a BMW.
As you're required to keep your eyes open when
driving a car, even with GPS -
(you look for a turn when it announces one,
you don't just turn right or left, don't you ?)
I think this is just another modern myth.
IMHO, of course
Stefan
sarbeiter@tuvps.com
http://www.egroups.com/lis t/risks--uga.cc.uga.edu/133.html. Scroll down to the first article.
it must have been human error.
Actually, BMW in the past hasn't been much of a partner to Microsoft, e.g. their development is done on non-MS machines (I can't remember what, but undoubtedly someone will). A humorous example of their disdain for MS is this picture.
Read: "Now you see it, now you don't" in the same RISKS digest.
Anyone know?
A local newspaper columnist was joking about the
Y2K problems. "...and our local buses and trains
be not run on correct time due to the Y2K problem
...luckily nobody will notice the difference!"
Actually, recent D-GPS are acurate to within bout +-15cm.
We actually used D-GPS data to calculate acceleration on a flight recently when our accelerometer data didn't get recorded properly.
It looked pretty decent at about 8 Hz. Too much scatter at >= 32 Hz.
It's getting better every year though...
a.
It's called a 'CARin' - www.carin.com, they're from phillips. It was a christmas geek-toy, and I think it's suprisingly good. It doesn't work via FM transmission (as was mentioned above), but it has a few gyroscopes inside to determine exactly where you're turning, and how much you're accellerating.
When you switch it on it says, in big writing, 'YOU MUST WATCH THE ROAD AT ALL TIMES' - idiot alerter, phase 1. It does not say 'easy left now' or 'hard right now' - it just says 'In 300 meters, turn left'.
You do -not- watch the display. (Well, you can) - but it's all spoken instructions. It doesn't tell you (at any time) to stop, or wait, or go. Ever. There is no way that anyone who has driven through more than 1 set of red lights, or a stop sign, can fail to understand that you can't just switch your brain off. It gives you -directions-, and that's all.
This -has- to be an urban myth.
--Rob (rob@rpi.net.au, bah, cookies)
First, it was Hitler and his 3rh Reich thingy. Now this.
Will those Germans ever evolve from the low life form
that they're currently stuck in?
Sheesh...!
The day stupidity is so blatant that the nonrebelling unconscious can't ignore it...
Who cares?
It's already too late!
Actually, I thought that was pretty funny, despite myself. Which just sort of begs the question: if it's funny, is it still noyz?
I have seen something like that on TV yesterday, but did not really listen to it.
It seemed there was a slope which hid the river bank from the road, and the driver went too fast because he thought there was a bridge. Then it was too late to brake.
Peter Tolgyesi
And you sincerely think that phones aren't going to break down too?
> What can happen with Y2K that doesn't already happen every so often
Problem is, all that nasty stuff will be happening all at once. So you can't do things the way you usually do them (ordering via internet), but you can't use the backup solution either (phone), because that's broken too.
Does this mean that Linux has eliminated user error once and for all? Would the driver have been paying any more attention to where he was going if the computer were running a different OS? Hey, I hate Microsoft too, but there are enough real problems with their products that I don't need to balme totally unrelated crap on them.
Some people are wondering if this story is
true. I think it is. I heard it on german
radio on December 26th, 1998 in the news.
Ok, sometimes they report false stories in
the radio news, but it is very likely that
this story is in fact true.
Microsoft labs strikes again! How much you wanna bet this had one of their Car PC's in it?
Heh this is the type of unrelated FUD we don't need. A Linux-based car would have made the exact same mistake. Note that the OS did not crash, and the program did not crash - it was merely a lack of foresight on the part of the coders to account for things such as ferries.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
a Linux car would have made the exact same mistake, so if this is supposedly proof of the crappiness of Windows, then Linux must be equally crappy.
It was a logic error - the program didn't account for the fact that ferries are not at their docks 100% of the time - you have to wait for them.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Anyone else having probelms getting to the site?
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
A geophysics profesor here at Harvey Mudd does topology mapping with GPS. Some details are at. HMC Geodesy Page
"L'IT c'est moi!"
...the one about the retired couple driving an RV. He puts the wife behind the wheel, says it's on cruise control and he's going into the back to sleep. When he's asleep, she decides to get up and make some tea. RV ends up in a field, of course, and she says "But I thought it was on cruise control!" Real story? Urban myth? I dunno.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
I thought that the germans had that problem fixed already. After all, wasn't the Volkswagon airtight? The darn thing should have floated.
On a slightly different note. If you put two cans of shaving cream in Liquid Nitrogen, open the cans and put the frozen contents in a VW bug, it will fill and slightly pressurize said VW bug.
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
Sounds like a caseof kaput in Caputh to me.
the loose nut behind the wheel. I guess the river (or brick wall or oncoming semi) will fix it for us.
according to the same link:
"Now that you've managed to avoid traffic slowdowns and last minute surprises, you can relax and play your favorite CD on the Auto PC high-quality digital audio system."
Problem Exists Between Wheel And Seat?
Sounds like a case of user error to me. . .
Alternative URL for this story: ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.risks/r isks-20.14.Z
And when the emergency personnel arrived, did the couple still have their kidneys?
(Sorry, I just couldn't resist!)
Was in Finnish papers several weeks ago!
Not a good sign. I mean, GPS tells you where YOU are, but what about the other road users? Is car driving being "windowized?" Hope not.
-- LaTeX, The Best There Is
The system works as follows:
:-)
1. GPS (Global Positioning System) gives you your position to within \pm 100 m.
2. A local correction system broadcasting via the FM radio band (modulated on an existing carrier) transmits corrections which are regionally valid. As a result, you get positioning accuracy to \pm 1...2 m. This is called D-GPS (Differential GPS).
3. You have a computer with CD-ROM and display screen. The CD-ROM contains a digital map (hopefully in the same coordinate frame as the GPS system, WGS-84 -- that's where we geodesists come in). The computer places you into the map and displays your surroundings.
4. If the CD-ROM is old (and they age quickly due to building etc.!) you won't get your surroundings displayed correctly.
5. The system does not know about other cars. That's YOUR problem!
In other words, RTFM. Or get wet!
Martin (a geodesist = someone who knows about knowing where you are
-- LaTeX, The Best There Is
ha ha
Its spelt "L-I-N-U-X", but pronunced as "Free Beer"
Was it running NT (or worse yet, WinCE) ;-)
Your Servant, B. Baggins
bwhahahahhahaha
Here's a link for youz to shiver over:
FrightSit e
SAVE THE BATS -Khyron
Surely that's not your ordinary D-GPS (code based)? Sounds more like phase-assisted, kinematic D-GPS. In static mode, the best (non-phase) DGPS I've seen does +-80 cm. With phase and on-the-fly ambiguity resolution, even +-1..2cm is possible, but only over baselines 20 km.
Not that I am an expert on it, I have seen D-GPS in use for measuring the subsidence of oil platforms in the North Seas. Over a period of months you get within accuracies of millimeters.
This is not exactly practical for in-car use, however. Heh.
I keep saying so the power goes out (light a candle), stop lights go out (treat as a four-way stop), shipping goofs (use your phone). Anything and everything can be handled.
But if everyone's brain goes dead, then I think we have a problem.
What can happen with Y2K that doesn't already happen every so often?
afniv
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
"We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
Richard von Weizs
Okay if your phone doesn't work, try e-mail, snail-mail, or when your truck driver shows up to pick up the order, have him give a message from management. I don't see the phones going out at the same time. If it does (computer networks or whatever), I wouldn't expect it to be down any longer than say the PanAmSat satellite failure for pagers. Y2K just isn't going to be the end of the world.
Maybe this is the best time for natural selection to work on human intelligence.
afniv
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
"We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
Richard von Weizs
Summary: I tried AutoPC, it was mind-numbingly confusing even in optimal conditions on the show floor.
I don't think it'll fly. The rep I talked to admitted most people are curious but find it too expensive, but didn't know the price (I think this was the business owner's girlfriend there on a lark).
Incidentally, if anyone has a specific make of car they'd like a report on, drop me an email - I'm almost certainly returning later in the week because I want to see the new S-Class Mercedes (which wasn't there yesterday but apparently arrived today).
D
I hope they make the computer pass the same driving exam I had to pass before being allowed on the roads. With the same examiner (bastardbastardbastard).
-- I reserve the right to be completely wrong --
What happened was that the GPS system guided them along a path. When it came to the "bridge", it was in fact a ferry. The writers of the software did not notice the difference between a bridge and a ferry.
What does this say? One, use some common sense. Two, programmers need to write better code.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Do you know if there is a combination with a camera system :-). Would be great.
and digital object detection in progress?
If heard about a car which drove a rather long distance
without any human interaction. Think this could be possible with
detection of stop signs and all other street signs.
Interested because I'm blind and really want a car like this
So I could save much money for taxi driving.
CYa,
Mario
This is almost funny. I can't get to the original story right now but it looks like another case of ,well... plain stupidity. Not much more can said about that.
The computer didn't forget to mention the driver should've waited for the ferry, it told the driver there was a BRIDGE! Thats why he didn't stop....
Oh well....