July 4, 2016 at 9:23 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Bad Data Shutdown
July 5, 2016 at 4:09 am
This reminded me of an e-mail that did the rounds 15 - 20 years ago. It was entitled "If Microsoft made cars". Included were descriptions of drivers having to get out of their cars, lock them and then unlock them to reboot them so they could carry on their journey. I could dig it out and post if anyone is interested.
This had actually happened to me on a train that missed its stopping point on the platform with the result that the GPS link for the software would not let the driver open the doors. A minor error that no one would have even noticed was then drawn to everybody's attention!
July 6, 2016 at 2:25 am
I had a conversation with someone at a classic car show and they pointed out that they are starting to see a cut-off point for the age of cars that wasn't there before.
The cars that I learned to drive in were entirely mechanical and could be serviced by anyone with common sense and a Haynes manual.
The car I drive today may be a humble Ford but if the electronics get fried then the car is dead. The scrap yards are full of cars that are mechanically sound but the cost of replacing the electronics makes them beyond economic repair.
My Ford is 2 years old and occasionally does not recognise the keyless start. Rather more frequently it doesn't recognise the USB connection to the iPOD or the existence of a mobile phone. What would happen if a car that was supposed to receive a critical patch didn't receive that patch or received enough of a patch to break something?
GPS can be a bit hit and miss. I use the Strava app to track my cycling activity. If I start the app from the front of my house then the chances are that Strava won't record my journey. If I start the app in my back garden then it will even though there is 30 metres difference in location.
The reason is simply that my mobile device acquires a GPS fix in my back garden but in the front of the house it is screened by several mature trees and buildings.
I've also got the problem that mobile reception at my house is terrible even though the nearest base station is 1/2 mile away. The reason is that the booster station is across the main electrified railway line from Crewe to Manchester. Step over the railway and signal strength is 5 bars. Step the other way and it flickers on 1 bar.
If we are planning to do a continuous delivery system for vehicle software then we need to have some heavy weight software engineering that expects unexpected signal failure.
July 6, 2016 at 1:34 pm
David.Poole (7/6/2016)
If we are planning to do a continuous delivery system for vehicle software then we need to have some heavy weight software engineering that expects unexpected signal failure.
Yep. +100
July 6, 2016 at 1:53 pm
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/6/2016)
David.Poole (7/6/2016)
If we are planning to do a continuous delivery system for vehicle software then we need to have some heavy weight software engineering that expects unexpected signal failure.Yep. +100
Regarding continuous software delivery, I hope we're not talking here about pilotless cars. When we consider the risk versus the benefit of using a continuous delivery model for pilotless car software, the potential risks are overwhelming. This type of system software update should only be done at the dealership, and actually it should be mandated by law that pilotless cars be taken into the dealer for regular upgrading and diagnostic, like maybe once per quarter.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
July 13, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Good editorial, but I'm in total disagreement with the final sentence:
Above all, however, no matter what your deployment mechanism for updates, you need to be sure that any data you include is at the quality level you'd expect would be delivered to you.
I've been in the situation where if the updates I allowed to be shipped out were similar quality to the stuff that was delivered to me the company I would have failed to do my job - I had to be very sure that what we shipped as of higher quality than what we received, so discovering faults in what was shipped to us and devising work-arounds to eliminate those faults (sometimes reverse engineering stuff - where that wasn't illegal) in order to work out how to work around problems and sometimes (again when legal) modifyiing stuff we'd received by replacing some of it by our own idea of what it needed to be before shipping it to our customers.
Tom
November 15, 2016 at 5:58 am
David.Poole (7/6/2016)
...The scrap yards are full of cars that are mechanically sound but the cost of replacing the electronics makes them beyond economic repair...
This is likely to change, if it hasn't already done so, the economics of buying a new car. I can see a point where no one buys cars and the thought of owning a car appears outdated except for classic cars and high end luxury vehicles.1
1Please see my other predictions to for evidence that I am most likely wrong.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
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