This is what the GPL was meant to fight against. Having boxes running software that is still under the control of the manufacturer.
Instead people complained that it was hard to use the code at work. YES. THAT’S THE POINT.
Sure but that’s also the reason stuff like this isn’t GPL. For-profit software simply isn’t going to use the give-away-for-free license.
You know it might make sense for automotive. The car is the product after all. The quality of the engine is ultimately what drives sales and most of the entertainment is traditionally third party. Making the on board stuff open helps them make a platform for third parties that are safe from manufacturer trying to push them out or collect fees. That environment also helps the manufacturer in its own sales as their cars are where the cultural impact is.
Sharing code makes sense for everybody. It lets them spend a lot less resources on fixing shit if everyone else is also doing that somewhere upstream. With FOSS you can have your cake and eat it too. At some point Google calculated that committing one developer upstream for the Linux kernel can save a company the equivalent of a couple dozen specialist developers downstream in bug prevention and feature alignment across vendors alone.
Unfortunately many companies continue to think about code as if it were potatoes. It doesn’t fucking matter who owns the code, it’s a functional spec. But hey, look at all the trouble we have explaining why standards are good – nevermind opening code.
Ohh for sure. That is also my position. I was just pointing out that people do not pick a car for the entertainment, but it can sway a purchase. An auto maker that keeps an open platform might have a stronger third party market that helps sway people into their cars, so even in their “we are trying to maximize our profits” still have a reasoning for it. Of course good luck telling senior management.
It makes sense for everybody, except for those with a financial interest in selling and/or haggling over software licenses. That’s not only the companies producing the actual software, but also legal firms and similar “specialists” who siphon off money from this system of complex IP law.
IMO the only way to transition to more software being open sourced, is to deconstruct these vested intrests with regulation. We need to fundamentally restructure the way software development is funded, and transition away from a model where ownership is the only thing that’s profitable.
Doing that is delicate though, because as backlash from those vested interests, a lot of workers will likely lose their jobs. You need to make sure those people easily find new jobs working on open source, and communicate that effectively, so workers’ job insecurity is as low as possible during the transition.
vehicle … cloud
Flying cars sure turned out differently than we imagined in sci-fi.
I have yet to own a vehicle made in the 21st century.
I’m terrified of having to get a vehicle that requires software updates that eventually will stop receiving support. I’m also terrified of getting a vehicle with just generally shitty software. My gf’s car has awful software and there’s nothing she can do about it.
Just give me 90s era cars again. They last forever and they’re easy to repair on your own.
There’s lot to be said for physical safety features like side and curtain airbags, or better crumple zones that don’t crush your feet, but those were pretty much standard by 2012 so you can have those without all the computer nightmares.
You can get cars as late as 2016 for this
I wonder how much cheaper a car without any crap in it could be today if they still manufactured them at scale
I know I may get flamed for this since it has funding from Bezos but take a look at the Slate Truck (https://www.slate.auto/). Not cellular modem so no tracking (other than app based things. They say like charging and whatnot but you never know). No carplay or android auto, not entertainment dash at all. Hell the windows are old school cranks for rolling up and down.
This, but as a compact and without Bezos.
The cloud? I’ve owned many a vehicle who’s company doesn’t exist anymore XD No car should be tied to any cloud or connectivity crap for use
Saturn enters the chat.
Pontiac says “hello” and Oldsmobile is hitting on Saab.
Holy shit how did this comment make me feel so old. Saturn was the only one that came to mind but I recognize all of those.
Daewoo is the one I wish was still here.
Fun part about Pontiac, they were where most of the Saturn people came from. So those people got to watch gm kill two of their dreams.
We must create some legalisation on this else a buch of smart cars are going to turn into dumb bricks.
In contrary to what many are saying I don’t think going back to plain cars is the solution. I think an open standard would be the solution here to provide an option to self-host or connect to provider.
Doesn’t even need a technical solution. Could just be some law that in order to sell a vehicle:
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A company has to maintain any cloud support for at least 20 years.
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They have to put up a bond that will allow such services to continue even if they go belly up before those 20 years are through.
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All vehicle features where cloud connections are not essential to their function must be operable without any cloud connection. So it’s fine if after 20 years you can’t pull the contacts from your google account to display on the car’s screen, or if GPS map updates no longer work. But the door locks or seat heaters better not be cloud connected.
Enforcing 20 years of support would be difficult since they’d presumably be going bankrupt/closing anyway so they don’t really have anything to lose.
Bond.
Big automotive conglomerates won’t go bankrupt.
If they do, your tax money will bail them out.
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You just throw it out and buy a new one. Duh.
Get a ninth gen Corolla and you’ll have no problems
Can’t find any near me, I’d have to fly to another country to get one that’s not full of rust holes and decommissioned due to failing safety inspection which doesn’t allow for perforation.
Why are you buying things you don’t own?
Sooner or later that might be your only choice.
I expect my next car will be a used one. If offline cars will be oulawed I guess it’s time for (cargo) pedelecs. So there are choices, though increasingly shitty ones.
All good and swell until they’re not available and you need to cart around others/start a family/etc. It will work for a subset of the population, but it needs to be gotten in front of now if we want to avoid waste.
Hopefully those in charge will be on this. I know I won’t. :(
My time horizont is 20-25 years. I think I can manage. Younger people should solve it for themselves.
When did you stop dreaming of the future?
The future isn’t what it used to be.
Younger people should solve it for themselves.
This is the boomer mindset that got us all into this mess. Fuck you.
I have not created the problem. I used to fight against that problem that corporations and other consumers have created. I refuse to support this behaviour financially. Nobody else has been giving a shit.
And you have the gall to accuse me for not being able to do anything by virtue of being old and then dead? No, fuck you, you useless punk. I hope some young idiot will say that to you, too.
My '96 vehicle has no cloud and will continue to.outlive many modern ones.
Ive got over 350k on my 05’ Toyota. I dread trying to buy a newer car.
it bricks permanently.
I never owned a car but if and when I do my FIRST choice is ‘was this car made with telemetry? If yes, are there clear instructions on how to airgap it’
Also I would want to check the laws regarding the paint on the cars so if it is possible to give it a dazzle or AI confusing pattern. I cannot shield it from ALPRs, but I want as little visiblility against other cameras as possible… Of course doing that pattern makes the car stick out.
I pulled the cloud modem out of my car. It drives just fine without a connection to the internet or cell towers.
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You buy a new one so the c level can buy another yacht
My car is so old it makes its own cloud!
Time to switch to an EV
True. But actually I don’t have a car. My last car decades ago, had a cassette player. But that had Auto Reverse. When it reached the end of the tape it would play the other side without you having to eject the tape and turn it over!
Time to switch to a CD
F that noise. 8 track for the win!
String quartet squeezed in the back seat or GTFO.
Look at the queen of England over here with a car quartet! We just had a couple hillbillys with banjos in the rumble seat of our jalopy AND WE WERE THANKFUL.
Luxury! We had a kazoo strapped to a unicycle and we were glad of it! All 15 of us!
