Personally I think that the following car functions should be mandatory physical controls - wipers, indicators, hazards, side/headlights, door locks, defogger / defroster, electronic parking brake. forward/reverse/neutral/park. And they should be controls that have fixed position in the car (i.e. not on the wheel) with positive and negative feedback.
And fuck Tesla or any other manufacturer that wants to cheap out on a couple of bucks by removing them. Removing physical controls has obvious safety implications to drivers who are distracted trying to find icons on a tablet.
I assume steering too, right?
i.e. a “If you brick your car’s firmware, at least you can keep driving without unreasonable levels of difficulty or distraction” situation.
If you brick your car’s firmware, at least you can keep driving without unreasonable levels of difficulty or distraction
That’s impossible for a large portion of safety critical systems. Engines don’t run without a controller, they literally control the fuel injection valves (and have done so for decades). Brake systems have physical failsafes for when the electronics die (I.e. basic hydraulics without the booster), but you should not be able to move a vehicle without a working brake system after it stopped.
The shitton of software running modern cars is there for good reason (at least large chunks of it), lots of which is safety, especially in the drivetrain.
It’s completely different for infotainment, which I agree the vehicle should be able to function without (although the dashboard must work)
