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Braking systems are controlled by a dedicated embedded software system that's extremely well-understood and well-tested (probably even formally verified). All i
by semi-extrinsic 8y ago
Braking systems are controlled by a dedicated embedded software system that's extremely well-understood and well-tested (probably even formally verified). All it does is check the ABS (and anti-skid) sensors and moderate the braking pressure to avoid locking the wheels. It also has a fail-safe system that gets rigorously tested, e.g. if a sensor fails. All possible values of all inputs are known, and the configurational space of those inputs is small enough that you can exhaustively test correctness.
It's plainly obvious that a braking system controller software is a very different beast from an autonomous car software, and I have no problem understanding why someone would trust th former and not the latter.
- charleslmunger 8y ago> Braking systems are controlled by a dedicated embedded software system that's extremely well-understood and well-tested (probably even formally verified). Are you sure? That code is closed source, and the peek behind the curtain we saw with Toyota's investigation did not inspire confidence: http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/toyota-unintended-acceleration-and-big-bowl-“spaghetti”-code http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/toyota-unintende...
- semi-extrinsic 8y agoThat's a really interesting article for sure. But it does highlight that Toyota was being unusual in not following industry-wide (voluntary) coding standards for safety-critical embedded systems in cars, and they ended up losing big in court. So I do think (hope) that this example is worst-case, not normal.