If we’re talking about the self driving cars here like mentioned in the article, the cars could go to a dealer / workshop on their own. You’ll only have to tell the car “I don’t need you for the next x hours”. So you go ahead and have the firmware updated.
Unfortunately there’s no quick fix about the current cars having the “guided” self driving principle.
Unfortunately, the current climate is quite opposite, what with computers randomly* deciding "you don't need me for the next couple of hours, I'll try the install-revert-install-revert-install-revert with this week's update, NOW."
(randomly, as in "where do you want to go today? meh, nevermind.")
Re:Self-Crashing Cars
by ScottBurson on Monday January 29, 2018 @05:06PM
(#16261064)
Please tell us what make of car that is, so we can avoid it.
Re:Self-Crashing Cars
by reaperducer on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @12:21PM
(#16267029)
Fiat.
In my case, for example, I have a 2014 and a 2015 car which are both more than a year overdue for a software updates. One is related to the braking system; the other to a problem where if you stomp on the gas in an emergency (like to avoid a crash), the car stalls.
The problem is that the dealers in my area don't have the capacity or the will to do software updates. One dealership only has maintenance hours between 9am and 4pm Monday through Thursday, and the ONE guy who is allowed to do software updates is only in on Saturdays from 9-noon occasionally.
The other dealership doesn't take appointments at all. It's first-come, first-served, 8am-5pm Monday through Saturday. I stopped going there because even at 7am, there's a huge line of people waiting for service. The final straw was when I sat there from 7am until 3pm for a very simple non-engine part swap that was covered under warranty.
The next nearest dealer is 138 miles away.
tl;dr version: OTA updates are good because there are places where you can't get a software update done at the dealer in a reasonable time.