Would there be a “safe mode” for steering where it has basic operation if it can’t get speed data?
Drive by wire kind of scares me.
Drive by wire kind of scares me.
As long as the same rigour that is applied to the aviation industry is used and that they don't use an MCAS, I think I'm ok with it.
Though I would also guess the mechanical linkages of an airliner are under a lot more stress than a car’s, so the gains from FBW would be a lot larger, even aside from not having to run mechanical linkages through the entire hull.
Physical linkages break too.
I don't know anyone with a passenger car who's ever had the steering wheel linkage break to the point turning the steering wheel stopped affecting the wheels. I like the failsafe there. Hopefully at least the brake cylinder is still connected to the brake pedal mechanically?
Cutting corners is cutting corners. Build cheap firmware or use materials with poor corrosion resistance and you get problems.
A firmware bug just happens, and there's no way (as an owner) to detect it beforehand.
Fly-by-wire systems in airplanes are way more complicated than cars and they have excellent safety records, which even improved as those systems became widespread.
The reason so much bad software exists in the world is because of the prevalence of people writing software without an accredited engineering education, licensing, or regulation. Software can be good if built to the engineering standards expected of any other engineering discipline.
Same with keyless starters, i remember this story about some French car experiencing a kind of highway run-off that couldn't be stopped due to this BS solution to a non-existing problem.
"But hey, that's not innovative enough"
shit breaks a lot when you'e been driving for 35+ years
I could go through a list of critical mechanical systems that have broken on cars I've driven over the years, including my beloved Toyota pickup.
> i want less SW in a car, not more
I just want Good Engineering Practice. Good engineering encompasses a lot, including doing a DFMEA (Design Failure Modes Effects Analysis) that will advise whether the software system is safer than the hardware linkage or vice versa.