You could be right, but somehow I'm skeptical that's really why they were using thousands of global variables. I'd certainly be interested in hearing any more

You could be right, but somehow I'm skeptical that's really why they were using thousands of global variables. I'd certainly be interested in hearing any more educated takes on Toyota's use of global variables specifically or the auto industry's capabilities in software more generally; I have no first-hand knowledge and am making a lot of assumptions (hence the throwaway, downvote away ;) based on generalizations I've heard about non-software-focused companies that end up having to write some code for their physical products.