Updates and upgrades..
On the one hand.. I applaud their making people financially responsible for keeping their stuff up to date.
On the other hand... I can see grounds for holding off on an update - how often have OS patches given a new bug or opened up an undiscovered one and caused all sorts of weird behaviour? The testing regime would have to be exceptionally good before forcing someone to perform an update - given the history of bugs such an update could cause an accident (that said, hopefully car manufacturers wouldn't have to deal with the ranges of hardware that PCOS makers have to deal with - the stereo etc should under no circumstances be able to contact the guicance computer, except maybe as a source for navigation instructions (my stereo has bluetooth, and a mic built into the car, why have more than one?)
I can also see privacy concerns with connecting the car to the net. I am sure that Ford would be able to be trusted NOT to ever sell people's driving data to advertisers, ever! Nor would Holden, or Suzuki, or Honda, or ... ever conceive of taking that multi-million+ cheque for handing over the data they've stored "just in case we need it sometime in the future", data which is "anonymised" yet would show where you live, work, shop, and who you visit... I'd have issues connecting them up to the net.
Also, what happens when there's a significant time lag between an update being released and someone getting their car near enough to a source of connection? Lots of people live where their parking is on the street, and maybe far enough away that they cannot get any data connection close to the car.
The tech is exciting but sometimes scary. The beuracracy however is going to be something beyond scary for a while I think, and the insurers will use every thing they can to get of paying.. "Oh, your headlamp was fitted by a fully qualified auto-electrician, the only one in your small town? No specialist Honda service agents for 200 miles? Well tough, that could've caused the accident (in broad daylight) so no money for you matey!". (And no doubt cases of "oh, your brake light was the wrong shade of red. That confused our clients car so you're at fault for not using our approved shade of tail lights!")
Yes. Someone I knew many years back did have an insurance claim rejected by the at-fault party's insurer because he had fitted a higher wattage headlight bulb. The accident occurred during daylight hours when the lights were not in use, but the insurer tried to claim that they somehow caused the accident.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
