I understand that airliners have separation between the computer systems used for entertainment and life-critical systems. That permits a less costly, lower reliability/testing standard to be used on the entertainment systems.
Unfortunately, current automobiles don’t seem to have that separation:
In a statement released today, the Sweden-based car manufacturer says EX30 vehicles can accidentally throw up a “test screen” on the center monitor, obscuring the normal driving statistics shown there including the speedometer and infotainment features. The exact cause of the bug has yet to be disclosed.
In older models the speedometer and the tachometer were analogue but new Volvos have them digital so more likely to be affected by software bugs even when the separation exists.
I don’t actually know how the analogue versions work or if they could still be affected by software bugs in the onboard computer. UI wise probably sturdier than digital I suspect.
I understand that airliners have separation between the computer systems used for entertainment and life-critical systems. That permits a less costly, lower reliability/testing standard to be used on the entertainment systems.
Unfortunately, current automobiles don’t seem to have that separation:
In older models the speedometer and the tachometer were analogue but new Volvos have them digital so more likely to be affected by software bugs even when the separation exists.
I don’t actually know how the analogue versions work or if they could still be affected by software bugs in the onboard computer. UI wise probably sturdier than digital I suspect.