Anthony wrote:
> Currently, the engineers and researchers working on these applications
are
> very switched on folks, critically aware of safety, redundancy and so
on.
> However if dopes from business-software markets get involved, we will
almost
> certainly see people killed and injured
Perhaps it's already (almost) happened here!
Subaru Australia has recently been recalling the Vehicle Dynamics
Control firmware in the newish Subaru Outback H6 (all wheel drive). This
software is used to automatically apply power & braking independently to
each wheel to counter the effects of over-aggressive driving habits (not
mine, of course). The intended outcome is to maintain stability of the
vehicle under slippery conditions.
The system tries to measure the load on each wheel, rotation speed,
incline etc. & uses all of this instantaneously to actively control the
wheel systems (or so i have read in my owner's manual).
The problem, it appears, from reading the recall letter, is that when
the (pre-recall) vehicle is used for towing a heavy trailer downhill on
a bend, the software mistakenly thinks that it is undergoing a
completely different manoevre & produces an effect similar to driving on
oily glass with three flat tires.
I was told by Subaru Australia that the software & whole system had been
tested successfully in thousands of situations, except for, it appears,
the one described above.
Perhaps the Subaru web design team have been job sharing in engineering?
john w biddle
far road pty ltd
aspiration to experience
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-link@www.anu.edu.au [mailto:owner-link@www.anu.edu.au]On
Behalf Of Anthony Healy
Sent: 02 August, 2001 10:10 AM
To: Link List
Subject: RE: [LINK] Motor Vehicle Software Systems
Grant wrote:
> Ford Motor Co. produces a car with a defect. The defect turns out
> be a possible source of injury. The result: Ford is *legally liable*
> to recall and fix said vehicles.
Probably won't be far off. Software is moving fast into cars and trucks
for:
1. in-car systems such as navigation, email and other horrors
2. driving automation including lane-keeping and collision avoidance
3. drive-by-wire, analagous to aviation's fly-by-wire
Currently, the engineers and researchers working on these applications
are
very switched on folks, critically aware of safety, redundancy and so
on.
However if dopes from business-software markets get involved, we will
almost
certainly see people killed and injured.
Regards, Tony Healy
--------
Now the trouble comes when you can't think of any new features, so you
put
in the paperclip, and then you take out the paperclip, and you try to
charge
people both times, and they aren't falling for it. Joel
Eschler(www.joelonsoftware.com)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.1 : Fri Aug 31 2001 - 03:10:02 EST