By Gene Morrill
We’ve All Heard The Jokes… But Could It Happen?
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally, executing a manoeuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would have to reinstall the engine.
4. When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
5. Apple would make a car powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. Oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single ‘general car default’ warning light.
7. The airbag would say ‘Are you sure?’ before going off.
8. Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna.
9. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You would press the ‘start’ button to shut off the engine.
With our cars becoming “computer on wheels” we can expect software updates to become a reality. Currently, Tesla Motors is wanting over-the-air Wi-Fi and 4G wireless downloads so cars can self-park and also have other functions. The more we push for autonomous cars, the more we will rely on software and software updates and downloads to keep them going. Tesla has a new software now that allows certain sedans to park themselves without a driver assist. To download this software takes 45 minutes and it also boosts engine performance and battery usage.
Cars have 200 million lines of code…that only a software expert can appreciate. To the lay person it means regular “updates” and software bugs. In 2014, Toyota had to recall over half of the Prius’ sold due to a software glitch. The more “connected” cars become, the more updates and bugs we can expect.
Software companies are all vying to be a part of the new automotive technology and of course, hackers are standing by as well. We are in for a ride…one way or the other!
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