Sat nav, brake-by-wire, stability control, parking distance sensors, fuel injection– CNET reports that the average automobile requires $1997 worth of software code to keep it from crashing (in both senses of the word). That’s about nine percent of the showroom price. To stop programming prices from spiraling out of control and to help accelerate development time, Honda, Toyota and Nissan have teamed-up with Toshiba to create a standard operating system for automotive applications. Oh, here’s a surprise: U.S. auto companies may already be falling behind in software standardization. And who will ride to their rescue? CNET’s got the major league hots for IBM, after Big Blue scarfed Swedish “automotive technology powerhouse” Telelogic. (In fact, the dead hand of IBM PR is all over this piece.) Snicker if you must, but the smart money’s still on Microsoft’s mob to create a one-size-fits-all software solution. In any case, the battle for auto OS has serious long-term implications for reliability and repair costs. We’ll keep you posted with our Windows XP.
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Microsoft Windows controlling every system in an automobile. Yeah… there’s a comforting thought!
What if, I don’t know, manufacturers set to engineering top-notch mechanical solutions to steering and braking? Some of the computer-driven parts of automobiles are beneficial, to be certain, but as technology progresses we’re losing more and more of our connection with the road and exposing ourselves to greater risk.
So when the car does not start in the morning, Microsoft Tech Support will instruct you to get out of the vehicle and then get back in(?).
Microsoft Tech Support… there is such a thing?
I just thought of a new car for Chevy:
Windows Vega
For Pontiac:
Windows GXP
It wouldn’t surprise me.
I wont buy a car with Microsoft controling anything in it. Doesn’t matter who makes it:GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, BMW, etc. still wont buy it because there software is consistantly crap. DOS and Windows NT are the only halfway reliable products they have ever made.
Toshiba, yes. Apple, yes. MSGMC, no way. MSDCX, no way. MSFMC, no way.
c’mon guys, the Microsoft in your ride has about as much to do with Vista as KFed has to do with Britney— you just need to get in SYNC.
BMW’s reviled i-drive runs on Microsoft Windows CE (like your PDA). You better hope that somebody else puts out a system.