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Comment by johnasmith | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious, what does having control over the update process give you? Isn't it replacing one unauditable black box system for another? Are you concerned about a regression and don't want to be in the vanguard cohort?

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My car/motorcycle/skateboard doesn't need over the air updates. It used to be, and still is in some cases, that a vehicle (electronic control modules and all) was sold as a finished product. Your engine control module or speed controller didn't need random firmware updates because it was a finished product that worked as intended upon delivery. Now people are clamoring to drive software licenses and I want no part of it. This isn't about auditing the code, this is about complexity creep and having ownership.

Well, there is the "my car has been disabled in an inconvenient time/location" problem for one. It would be nice to have more audibility but I use iOS/macOS/etc so it would be disingenuous to claim that as a show-stopper.

If by "vanguard cohort" you mean "in the first wave to test the new software," then yes; I don't want to be in that group.

I feel like being concerned about your car being disabled at an inconvenient time, but not being as concerned about your phone/laptop isn't disingenuous.

They're entirely different products, costs, use cases, risk profiles.

For the most part, yes. I do fly with ForeFlight though. Losing it mid-flight would not be a disaster in its own right but the tech has saved my life a few times.

The ForeFlight team will send out a message giving an "all clear" or a "wait for us to update the app before updating to the next iOS/iPadOS release."

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