[SV_BubbleTime]

>If cars (the non-software parts) were made like this, there would be millions of them breaking down by the side of the road daily.

I’m an automotive CE… we’re getting there.

Cars used to be DONE at lots… now, there are weeks to finish code before the customer lays hands on, and that time is factored in now.

Worse with OTA updates. Now, so long as it’s fixed if enough customers complain that’s good enough.

Cars used to be great. Then some morons connected them to the internet for no good reasons.

[whstl]

This reminds me of the (possibly apocryphal) story where traffic engineers design pedestrian-heavy intersections without traffic lights because it makes drivers more careful.

We now have sloppy software simply because we can update bugs later.

This is a purely social problem that won't get solved with technology.

[raxxorraxor]

> Then some morons connected them to the internet for no good reasons.

Bad engineering at this point. To be fair, we could have had good car OS, good smartphone OS. But we didn't because everyone wanted to have their own pie castle.

Imagine a smartphone that was actually useful. Or a car OS that supports you with repairs. Possible, but not wanted by manufacturers.

[bayindirh]

Use a proper RTOS kernel with a good UI layer, and see all the developers complain loudly because they can't use the latest mobile phone stacks on that robust platform.

Sony boots a RTOS Linux system on their cameras in 3 seconds flat, and the firmware is arguably mission critical for that camera. It can be done for an infotainment system.

[throwanem]

Three seconds is a long time. What's it doing to justify that lag? Or is there some kind of cold/warm boot distinction?

[bayindirh]

The booting process is dominated by checking SteadyShot's state (move sensor a bit, center and lock).

However, you don't notice that three seconds. Because when you flick the switch and raise the camera, and it's already ready to shoot.

There's powersave after a minute (configurable), which can be considered as S3 sleep, and returning from that is faster.

[throwanem]

Seems complicated. IBIS would be nice to have, but the two stops or so I get from my lenses' stabilizers usually works out to be enough.

[bayindirh]

Actually, there's a distinct level up in camera sensors starting with Sony A7-III and onward (incl. Fuji, Canon, Nikon). Having IBIS with a standard lens (like 28/2) allows you to take unbelievable shots at dusk and night.

Moreover if you have a stabilized lens, they work in tandem to improve things even further.

Many shots you think which would gonna be blurry comes out perfect. e.g.: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zerocoder/49047642802/in/photo...

[nyarlathotep_]

> Sony boots a RTOS Linux system on their cameras in 3 seconds flat, and the firmware is arguably mission critical for that camera. It can be done for an infotainment system.

Is stuff like this documented anywhere? This is one software topic I find endlessly fascinating but can't find any resources on.

[gopher_space]

OTA firmware updates are so insane. Does your insurance company understand what’s going on?

[SV_BubbleTime]

There was a hack to a Cherokee featured in Wire years and years back. It was attributed to “two hackers”… yea my ass, I met both guys they knew surface level at best, these guys didn’t discover a flaw in Sprint’s network on their own.

It was three letter agencies embarrassing the mfgs into “taking security more seriously” but conveniently also giving gov access, backdoors, and data on vehicles.

Play the game or they’ll make sure the next article is about you.

People would look at the vehicle industry a lot differently if they knew what was going on behind the scenes.

[zikduruqe]

> There was a hack to a Cherokee featured in Wire years and years back

I discovered the vulnerability that lead to all that. I wish I could say more, but no one took it seriously.

[InDubioProRubio]

So, i guess thanks to whoever in the NSA does the final quality control preventing mass incidents.

[Shekelphile]

> Then some morons connected them to the internet for no good reasons.

Elon Musk and Franz von Holzhausen, to be precise.

[fwungy]

New cars have 3G cellular transmitters constantly sending telemetry data. This started becoming common in 2012.

[tmerc]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37971038

4g now. 3g was turned off causing these cars to drain the battery searching for signal.

[delfinom]

Depends on the brand still. Honda for example only does that to the top tier touring trims because it's part of their remote-remote start offering for that trim (that you have to subscribe to)

[barbazoo]

That was way before the musk rat.

[SV_BubbleTime]

No. Not even close.

Far closer to Obama and his circle. Around Carpocalypse 2008, a bunch of three letter agencies started pushes for internet connected vehicles knowing the tech wasn’t there; but would be.

I watched it happen. There was some shady shit, and the reality was 2008 wasn’t just about GM and Chrysler but and entire JustInTime mistake that could have stopped almost all car production around the world. Different topic, but the effect was government would be involved in cars a lot more than previously.

Fast forward, and here we are. Your car ABSOLUTELY is spying on you, and the upside is you also get shipped unfinished vehicles.

Be a culture war sally about Musk all you like, I know, the bad men say the mean things. But this isn’t on him. Tesla had to and in some ways is still learning that cars aren’t computers on wheels, but this specific “feature” came from Big Government first.

[tapoxi]

Obama wasn't president until January 2009.

[SV_BubbleTime]

The fallout was after 2009, thank you though maybe I was remembering it wrong. I wasn’t, and you were making assumptions, but good to check anyhow.

[SV_BubbleTime]

Also, you can remind me who bailed out GM and Chrysler (which again, debatable move).

[balamatom]

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that he did not exist before January 2009 /s

[KPGv2]

> the bad men say the mean things

You really lose all credibility when you downplay the richest man on earth openly bribing voters and the President claiming the man helped rig voting machines, and that same man makes Nazi salutes and goes to Europe and supports the Nazi party in the place where they invented Nazi parties. And then he basically moves into the White House and magically his companies start getting government contracts, while saying empathy is a bad thing and begins eviscerating the government with no oversight.

That isn't "bad men saying bad things." But, of course, this very bad man did say some very bad things, too.

[none4methx]

There’s no reason it should cost credibility to say that these people are motivated by an enjoyment of the spectacle of their cruelty and do it on purpose. Bad man has a moral connotation as well as a tradecraft connotation. Neither one of you is wrong to use the Bad Man monicker here.

[plagiarist]

I recognize their username. I would say it is deliberate that they overlook seriously concerning events in a manner that is patronizing and disrespectful to the people they disagree with.