We are a lot closer than you think.
Posted on 02/09/2011 9:03:48 PM PST by Lazlo in PA
So roughly a year ago, reporters went batpoop crazy over possessed Toyotas that accelerate without your consent – smashing into other sedans, running into and over people, or worse: ruining floral mailboxes that look like miniature versions of stately homes.
Well, if you’re like me, you knew this might be B.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at bighollywood.breitbart.com ...
“
Toyota Fail: More Media Hype From the MSM.(Funny but True)
“
So when does Toyota get:
1. A refund of the penalties they paid
2. An apology for insulting their reputation
Oops, neither will be forthcoming as the insults benefited Government Motors,
Fiat-Chrysler, the UAW and the DNC.
What a fool I was to think that these pigs would act with even a
shred of class!!!
F-—in Democarts/Socialists/Marxists.
I will NEVER buy another GM/Chrysler product. And maybe even Ford
because they are still bound at the hip to the UAW.
I see... It’s the lack of evidence that proves the conspiracy. Schweet. That’s much easier.
“Maybe we could convince all the liberals to drive “fly by wire” cars, and just sit back and wait......”
HAAHAHAHA :-). Now that’s an EV I’ll support right off the bat :-)!
The term in the industry, I thought, was “drive by wire” though “fly by wire” technology is widely used in aviation ... I guess it has been adopted by the automotive industry.
I can see how the technology *can* work and be safe. Those 50 cent microcontrollers are pretty robust and reliable these days. Networking them for redundancy is not as hard as it used to be. Still, it’ll take several more years ... I agree 100% that these things should not be on the road right now. The system will have to be as reliable as “fly by wire” systems on modern airplanes. I don’t think these cars have something that reliable ... not when you’re engineering for cost in the case of automobiles. Even a 0.5% failure rate can kill a lot of people.
I think drive by wire faces two big problems ... one is that the driver gets no feedback from the steering mechanism. When you hit a pothole with a traditional steering system, you can *feel* that via the steering wheel and take corrective actions. I cannot see how that happens in a drive by wire system. The system could sense an event like this and give you some indication, but the driver would only *feel* the thud through the chassis ... the steering wheel would do nothing. A force-feedback system could be used, but then the computer is simply going to give you an estimation of the *thud* you encountered.
The other problem I see is, in the event of failure, how does the system know how where to point the wheels! Say the system fails and you are driving 65MPH. It can’t just kill the ignition and let you coast to a stop. You still need to be able to steer!
Something that could work in the interim is a hybrid mechanical/wire system. Primary steering can be handled by wire. A mechanical system could be used as the “backup” in the event of a catastrophic failure of the primary steering system. The mechanical system wouldn’t have to be engineered for “long life” ... in theory (heh heh), it wouldn’t be used much if at all.
Like you, I’ve programmed and designed all sorts of computers (I mainly deal with FPGAs anymore). I can see the benefits of drive by wire, but I prefer to be safe ... this technology has a ways to go in the automotive world :-)!
We are a lot closer than you think.
BTW, you were pretty rude to another poster (why so angry about this?), and claimed computer power switches were hard wired. You are wrong, at least for the last 15 years, with the introduction the ATX specs power switches are soft on/off.
I am glad to find one other person on here that gets it. It is in cases like this that a higher survival IQ is required to really see the big picture. Even very complex systems in the past often had “Manual Override”. Even space systems like Apollo 13. If the movie is at all accurate on that account then all those men would have died without the manual control. Jumbo jet aircraft had manual overrides. Even in the case where the accelerations were caused by a floor mat the fact remains that if these cars had a key to turn off then many dead people would still be alive. That police officer would still be alive. That is as much an electronic failure as any. It is just one that was by design. And Toyota should pay a very steep price for it. The government report is obviously contrived to give a false impression of the truth. Proving once again that you can’t trust a government report. Not a financial one or otherwise. The result is always pre-determined, and the report is written as desired. Over time this will result in many more unnecessary deaths.
It just amazes me to think that one of the first and most primitive electrical devices to ever exist has been removed from these systems and people have died over what could basically be called a “Knife Switch”.
Those who are always into having the latest and greatest of technology to the point of putting aside common sense and calling all old technology obsolete are truly, IQ delinquents. Those are the ones who watch there televisions because it tells them that they should.
The Lexus in question has a power button, which if held down will turn off the car, just like a key.
Yes I am confident the cop made a mistake. Your point being...?
Are you a lawyer pushing this bullshit? It has been PROVEN to be bullshit and yet you persist like a liberal earth first type still trying to get “global-warming” recognized as a fact, long after it has been proven to be bullshit!
I don’t believe in global warming.
I am a professional, having 2 degrees in Computer Science, made my living the past 25 years in CS.
Think about it - what if your car crashed everytime your windows computer did?
I don’t want computers slapped into everything to give them more “features” nobody wants anyway, make the less reliable, less safe and harder to work on.
Essentially, I am the guy who works at the Brand X sausage factory saying, folks, you might not want to eat this type of sausage.
I am sure you are expert in some things, and can tell the smoke from the fire there. Steve Wozniak of all people don’t think non-redundant computers running everything in your car is a bright idea. (He invented the apple II computer)
I was speaking of the reset switch, not the power switch. Power switches are the last ditch effort. And the soft switches on recent ATX power supplies just require a resistor, I think if they havent changed recently, I hacked an ATX power supply to function outside of the case a awhile back, for another project and had to defeat the “soft” switch.
Then stop pushing this proven bullshit as fact.
Maybe they will find the finger of your mashed body still on the start button as they scoop you up. Air force planes have back up computers. And Air force planes have an eject button.
“I am sure you are confident that a California state trooper (off duty), simply made a mistake...”
You mean like not just turing the motor off?
bump
Anything that is uniformly adopted and reported by the MSM is a lie—Next question.
Lovely insult. Thanks. I needed a good put-down.
Oh, and by the way, not to brag, but I've also got a CS degree and have done systems analysis and design for 34 years.
I do hope you treat your clients a bit more kindly than you treated me.
“Think about it - what if your car crashed everytime your windows computer did?”
You’re using a lot of dirty debate tactics, but this is one of the worst. Just because a car’s electrical system can be said to “crash [#1]” when it malfunctions does not mean the car will “crash [#2],” i.e. to undergo sudden damage on impact.
Firstly, not only is there no evidence of a widespread problem with computer malfunctions (let alone property damage, injury, and death), there isn’t much non-anecdotal evidence of it at all. Secondly, even if there were, computer malfunctions do not turn cars into unguided missles. If you know what you’re doing you can save yourself.
“There ARE deaths, but until the industry acknowledges that their basic approach is unsafe, they will be ignored as the cost of doing business.
Did you know how long car manufacturers FOUGHT seat belts and airbags?”
This sounds sinister, and I might join you on the picket line—or, more likely, the bar—against these evil companies. But wait, when you think about it, carmakers are not the only companies that have to factor death into cost-benefit and marketing considerations. People die from bathtubs, for pete’s sake.
Of course, cars are deadlier than tubs. Of course again, everyone knows cars are deadlier, yet they prefer to drive them anyway. Why? Because the ease and comfort of modern technology is worth the risk.
Your only argument is that people aren’t taking an informed risk because they’re being duped by a fog of mystery hanging over the true cost of microcontrollers. All the dozens (hundreds?, thousands?) of deaths and injuries have been covered up, I guess. Various investigations—carried out by people who, if anything, had an interest in finding something damning—which dug up nothing, were shams. Only you, with the help of your superspecial decoder ring, can see the truth.
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