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Car computer crashes, literally. 47

Posted by CowboyNeal from the bus-speed-looks-good-now dept.
WeThree writes " A German couple drove their BMW with great confidence under control of its computerized satellite navigation. Indeed, they drove it past a stop sign, down a ferry ramp, and into the Havel River in Caputh, near Potsdam/Berlin, Germany. The computer system reportedly neglected to tell them they needed to wait for the ferry." Looks like it's not quite ready to put in autodrive mode yet.
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Car computer crashes, literally. More

Car computer crashes, literally.

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  • Why? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does this mean that Linux has eliminated user error once and for all? Would the driver have been paying any more attention to where he was going if the computer were running a different OS? Hey, I hate Microsoft too, but there are enough real problems with their products that I don't need to balme totally unrelated crap on them.
  • Some people are wondering if this story is
    true. I think it is. I heard it on german
    radio on December 26th, 1998 in the news.
    Ok, sometimes they report false stories in
    the radio news, but it is very likely that
    this story is in fact true.
  • Microsoft labs strikes again! How much you wanna bet this had one of their Car PC's in it?
  • Heh this is the type of unrelated FUD we don't need. A Linux-based car would have made the exact same mistake. Note that the OS did not crash, and the program did not crash - it was merely a lack of foresight on the part of the coders to account for things such as ferries.
  • a Linux car would have made the exact same mistake, so if this is supposedly proof of the crappiness of Windows, then Linux must be equally crappy.

    It was a logic error - the program didn't account for the fact that ferries are not at their docks 100% of the time - you have to wait for them.
  • Anyone else having probelms getting to the site?
  • A geophysics profesor here at Harvey Mudd does topology mapping with GPS. Some details are at. HMC Geodesy Page [hmc.edu]
  • ...the one about the retired couple driving an RV. He puts the wife behind the wheel, says it's on cruise control and he's going into the back to sleep. When he's asleep, she decides to get up and make some tea. RV ends up in a field, of course, and she says "But I thought it was on cruise control!" Real story? Urban myth? I dunno.
  • I thought that the germans had that problem fixed already. After all, wasn't the Volkswagon airtight? The darn thing should have floated.

    On a slightly different note. If you put two cans of shaving cream in Liquid Nitrogen, open the cans and put the frozen contents in a VW bug, it will fill and slightly pressurize said VW bug.
  • Sounds like a caseof kaput in Caputh to me.

  • the loose nut behind the wheel. I guess the river (or brick wall or oncoming semi) will fix it for us.

  • according to the same link:

    "Now that you've managed to avoid traffic slowdowns and last minute surprises, you can relax and play your favorite CD on the Auto PC high-quality digital audio system."
  • Problem Exists Between Wheel And Seat?

    Sounds like a case of user error to me. . .
  • Alternative URL for this story: ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.risks/r isks-20.14.Z [uu.net]
  • And when the emergency personnel arrived, did the couple still have their kidneys?

    (Sorry, I just couldn't resist!)
  • Was in Finnish papers several weeks ago!

    Not a good sign. I mean, GPS tells you where YOU are, but what about the other road users? Is car driving being "windowized?" Hope not.

  • The system works as follows:

    1. GPS (Global Positioning System) gives you your position to within \pm 100 m.

    2. A local correction system broadcasting via the FM radio band (modulated on an existing carrier) transmits corrections which are regionally valid. As a result, you get positioning accuracy to \pm 1...2 m. This is called D-GPS (Differential GPS).

    3. You have a computer with CD-ROM and display screen. The CD-ROM contains a digital map (hopefully in the same coordinate frame as the GPS system, WGS-84 -- that's where we geodesists come in). The computer places you into the map and displays your surroundings.

    4. If the CD-ROM is old (and they age quickly due to building etc.!) you won't get your surroundings displayed correctly.

    5. The system does not know about other cars. That's YOUR problem!

    In other words, RTFM. Or get wet!

    Martin (a geodesist = someone who knows about knowing where you are :-)
  • ha ha

  • Well? (Score:1)

    by Bilbo ( 7015 )
    Was it running NT (or worse yet, WinCE) ;-)
  • bwhahahahhahaha
  • Here's a link for youz to shiver over:
    FrightSit e [microsoft.com]
  • Let me get this straight, a car that can automatically drown rich fucks? What a brilliant device! Dude, I hope they make a killing!

    SAVE THE BATS -Khyron

  • Surely that's not your ordinary D-GPS (code based)? Sounds more like phase-assisted, kinematic D-GPS. In static mode, the best (non-phase) DGPS I've seen does +-80 cm. With phase and on-the-fly ambiguity resolution, even +-1..2cm is possible, but only over baselines 20 km.

    Not that I am an expert on it, I have seen D-GPS in use for measuring the subsidence of oil platforms in the North Seas. Over a period of months you get within accuracies of millimeters.

    This is not exactly practical for in-car use, however. Heh.
  • I keep saying so the power goes out (light a candle), stop lights go out (treat as a four-way stop), shipping goofs (use your phone). Anything and everything can be handled.

    But if everyone's brain goes dead, then I think we have a problem.

    What can happen with Y2K that doesn't already happen every so often?

    afniv

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    "We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"
  • Okay if your phone doesn't work, try e-mail, snail-mail, or when your truck driver shows up to pick up the order, have him give a message from management. I don't see the phones going out at the same time. If it does (computer networks or whatever), I wouldn't expect it to be down any longer than say the PanAmSat satellite failure for pagers. Y2K just isn't going to be the end of the world.

    Maybe this is the best time for natural selection to work on human intelligence.

    afniv

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    "We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"
  • I went to the auto show and filed a report, on AutoPC [amazing.com] and the show in general [amazing.com]

    Summary: I tried AutoPC, it was mind-numbingly confusing even in optimal conditions on the show floor.

    I don't think it'll fly. The rep I talked to admitted most people are curious but find it too expensive, but didn't know the price (I think this was the business owner's girlfriend there on a lark).

    Incidentally, if anyone has a specific make of car they'd like a report on, drop me an email - I'm almost certainly returning later in the week because I want to see the new S-Class Mercedes (which wasn't there yesterday but apparently arrived today).

    D

  • I hope they make the computer pass the same driving exam I had to pass before being allowed on the roads. With the same examiner (bastardbastardbastard).
  • What happened was that the GPS system guided them along a path. When it came to the "bridge", it was in fact a ferry. The writers of the software did not notice the difference between a bridge and a ferry.

    What does this say? One, use some common sense. Two, programmers need to write better code.
  • Do you know if there is a combination with a camera system
    and digital object detection in progress?
    If heard about a car which drove a rather long distance
    without any human interaction. Think this could be possible with
    detection of stop signs and all other street signs.
    Interested because I'm blind and really want a car like this :-). Would be great.
    So I could save much money for taxi driving.
    CYa,
    Mario

  • Heheh (Score:1)

    by warmi ( 13527 )
    This is almost funny. I can't get to the original story right now but it looks like another case of ,well... plain stupidity. Not much more can said about that.
  • The computer didn't forget to mention the driver should've waited for the ferry, it told the driver there was a BRIDGE! Thats why he didn't stop....

    Oh well....

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