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With most vehicles being 'fly by wire' nowadays, do regulators like the NHTSA and FMCSA have their own software engineers / technology experts reviewing what's
by arrowleaf 3y ago
With most vehicles being 'fly by wire' nowadays, do regulators like the NHTSA and FMCSA have their own software engineers / technology experts reviewing what's going into these vehicles?
When 346 people died on the 737 Max 8s there was headline news speculating on the role of new software. The FAA had a lengthy investigation of Boeing and we saw pieces put out by experts like IEEE opining about what went wrong and how software played a role. Boeing paid $2.5bn to avoid being put on trial.
45,000 people in the USA die in motor vehicle incidents every year. How many hundreds if not thousands of those were caused by software faults? Is the software in sensor-based safety packages working as flawlessly as flight control systems?
I bet more than 346 pedestrians have been killed by drivers of Subarus that have EyeSight packages, drivers who think EyeSight might make a difference in them not hitting someone if they aren't paying full attention to the road.
- xnx 3y agoFWIW I believe 'drive by wire' is exceedingly rare. The Lexus RZ450e and the Cybertruck are the only vehicles I know of where the steering wheel is not mechanically connected to the wheels.
- arrowleaf 3y agoOh, that's good to know. Throttles are commonly by-wire, but I must have misinterpreted the move away from hydraulic to electric steering assist as moving from mechanical to signals. Thank you for the correction.