Fly by wire, courtesy of BMW
greve
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Monday 13 March 2006
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Most modern cars tend to be packed with electronics, including the
accelerator and steering wheel, which are often serving as slight
indications of the passengers' will to the onboard computer that
really controls the car.
The Register carries an interesting article about the effects of buggy
software in today's world: Apparently a BMW 318 decided to "fly by
wire" in the UK and was determined to accelerate fully regardless of
what the driver thought about that idea:
Nicolle explained: "I was travelling down the motorway and I came to
traffic in front of me. I took my foot off the accelerator because
it's automatic - but I wasn't slowing down at all."
"I hit the brakes. They were braking ok, they were keeping me at about
70mph. So I phoned up the police after I called the AA and they said
straight away 'stick your hazard lights on and headlights on - we've
got a helicopter en route to you'."
Nicolle attempted unsuccessfully to stick the Beemer in neutral, but
found the gears jammed. "Then the brakes started burning out - I could
see smoke coming from the brakes," he said.
While the "satanic BMW" is a funny read, the idea of sitting in
such a machine with both feet on the brakes, accelerating like crazy
when the brakes finally died, is anything but funny.
It also serves as a nice example of the real-worldly effects of
buggy software. And people really ask me why I want to be able to control this software myself by demanding Free Software?
