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Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

arstechnica.com

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Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#61

Post by codeulike »

zaroth wrote: post #35
LeonM wrote: post #6

I think this is a result of automotive technical progress slowing down. And I don't mean that in a bad way. For the past 100 years, we have been developing better and better cars, with both breakthroughs and incremental improvements in the drivetrain, safety, comfort, reliability, etc. Now though, cars are consolidating. Most car companies only have a handful of 'platforms' on which they build various models. For exa…

This is wrong every time anyone has ever tried to claim it throughout human history for any piece of technology, so much so, that there must be a name for it.

Candles have not been pushed forwards much recently

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#62

Post by amelius »

whalesalad wrote: post #59
amelius wrote: post #57

> Senger also revealed that VW Group will be using Android for future versions of the MIB infotainment platform Yikes, can't they find an OS that isn't laden with adtech?

Can you think of a better platform? What's the alternative?

Pure OS, https://pureos.net/

And if that's not sufficiently capable perhaps VW can invest into making it so.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#63

Post by zaroth »

codeulike wrote: post #61
zaroth wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is wrong every time anyone has ever tried to claim it throughout human history for any piece of technology, so much so, that there must be a name for it.

Candles have not been pushed forwards much recently

How much do you think is spent on perfume / scent science annually?

Besides the core quality and variety of the scents, technology to prevent wick flare-ups, technology to alter burn rates, more economical mixtures of the wax, better composition of the jar to support cheaper shipping and less breakage.

That’s not even to mention all the new competition to the venerable candle; non-burning LED candles, plug-in oil dispensers, time release mechanisms, vaporizers, etc.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#64

Post by jacquesm »

Etheryte wrote: post #7

The key takeaway for me here is that they want to build an Android-based OS that will run both user applications and, say, your traction control on the same stack. Given the very mixed history of Android security, updates, and more, I simply can't see how this would end well.

Not a chance.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#65

Post by jacquesm »

Onanymous wrote: post #38
vgoh1 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article must be misleading. Android would never have the latency or reliability to run things like traction control and fuel management. The engineers at auto companies are well aware of this, but perhaps the author of the article is not.

Engineers might well be aware but not the managers who make decisions

Contrary to popular belief most managers in industry are not 100% clueless. No manager in a car company would be so incompetent that they would off-load time critical functions to a phone. My money would be on incompetence of the writer long before I'd suspect the people on the other side of the interview.

I've been through a couple of those myself, it is always very interesting to see how your words come out once they've been interpreted by someone who is essentially clueless but well-meaning and trying to understand something that goes above their normal day-to-day level of complexity. And that's the good case, the one where they don't have an agenda to push.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#66

Post by codeulike »

zaroth wrote: post #63
codeulike wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Candles have not been pushed forwards much recently

How much do you think is spent on perfume / scent science annually? Besides the core quality and variety of the scents, technology to prevent wick flare-ups, technology to alter burn rates, more economical mixtures of the wax, better composition of the jar to support cheaper shipping and less breakage. That’s not even to mention all the new competition to the venerable candle; non-burning LED candles, plug-in oil dis…

Ah man, I've been and done a [we need a name for this as mentioned by comment above]

edit: its a misjudgement about the stagnation of technology. How about "mistagnatechment"?

Ah man, I've been and done a mistagnatechment!

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#67

Post by tyingq »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #55
tyingq wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"suspect that some ICE engines in use are still variants of pre war designs the Chevy Small Block v8 is a little newer starting mid 1950's" Perhaps, but I'm not sure how relevant that is. The only pieces that remain somewhat as they were would be the block, crank, and rods. Overhead cams, variable valve timing, aluminum heads/blocks, electronic ignition, fuel injection, ECU, etc...are all newish. If some other design…

Just variants though the British Leyland O series dated back to well before ww2 and lasted into the 80's if not the 90's

Which, as mentioned, was retrofitted with overhead cams, fuel injection, etc, decades after the WWII era.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#68

Post by zaroth »

LeonM wrote: post #45
zaroth wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is wrong every time anyone has ever tried to claim it throughout human history for any piece of technology, so much so, that there must be a name for it.

I guess what I meant to say is: automotive tech is consolidating. Saying it is slowing down was a mistake and I definitely stepped on many toes by doing so.

I love the fact that progress never stops. No matter how unimaginable it is that some piece of technology could be improved, it is not only improved upon but it will be dramatically reimagined and reinvented and iterated upon endlessly until it becomes entirely obsolete.

Even when people say “XYZ is approaching the laws of physics for how good it can get” they often turn out wrong, like with solar panels there are several theoretical limits which have been shattered by using multi-layer approaches and mirrored or stacked panels, or ways to excite 2 electrons from one photon, that ultimately push the technology forward in one dimension or another.

All I’m saying is, you’re in very good company.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#69

Post by davidthewatson »

I fail to see how an operating system causes 2 or 3 decades of divergent software engineering to coalesce. That's only probable if numerous components descend from the operating system group in an architectural style that is unified, congruent, and global. That's way beyond the bounds of what we traditionally call operating systems. You are more likely to wind up with a cargo cult.

Re: Volkswagen’s plan to create a new car operating system

#70

Post by yitchelle »

virtualritz wrote: post #34
yitchelle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like an underestimation to me. An ECU in car can consume up a team of 200 to 250 engineering resource. This only for those working directly on the ECUs. Add to it the secondary functions, the numbers will explode.

I worked on the infotainment part of recently released top brand car's software. The number of engineers on that was flabbergasting. Way higher than your number. But the reason was not that it was needed. The reasons were: - The approach to developing software (pure waterfall, with lots of agile BS bingo terms as seasoning). As someone else mentioned: Old car companies do not understand software. I may add: At all. -…

I have also worked in the infotainment space, now in powertrain space. It seems that the infotainment teams seems to be 2x to 3x the size of a typical automotive engineering team.

Sometimes, I feel that infotainment products are more subjective than the other car functions. eg, Does that "ding" sound notification reflect the values of our brand vs Can the maximum power be transferred to the rear wheels in the snow within 300ms, subject questions vs objective questions. Subjective questions needs more study and analysis, leading to more engineers.

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