The Network is the Car

An anonymous reader sent us a little JavaSoft PR Bit about Java integrated into a concept car. It's mostly full of your usual "Ra-Ra Change the World" kinda stuff you might expect, but it has a few interesting notes (Using wireless ether, Ricochet, and a cel modem to provide different bandwidth streams depending on location, the fact that the machine could be ported to Linux, the fact that it could download MP3s to cars) so its actually kinda interesting.

Comments

A few issues

[Shoeboy]

If they're going to network cars, the first thing we need is a better collision avoidance algoritm.
The standard ethernet method is ok: if your car is in a collision you wait a random amount of time (determined by the speed of your mechanic) and try again. The problem with this is the high fatality rate.
Token ring can't work, because we'd have to replace all our stop lights with 4 way stops. This will be more expensive and kill average throughput.
Regardless of how they do this, I don't want to be considered an acceptable packet loss statistic.
--Shoeboy