Driving and Roads

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EEPhil said:
What with all that and dodging potholes, speed bumps, cyclists, illegal electric scooters and skateboards you are going to have sensory overload. It's a jungle out there!
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I'll add to the list of illegal electric:... bicycles, unicycles, scooters, and skateboards.
Oh, and there's the mobility scooters (no licence plates) that decide to 'drive' on the road.
 
Owen Smith said:
You have however forgotten the illegal electric motorbikes that look mostly like bicycles. If you don't have to pedal to make it go it's a motorbike and needs tax, MOT and insurance and a helmet for the rider. Half of them ride illegally on pavements and cycle paths, and the other half ride illegally on the roads. No insurance means no-one to claim against when they kill someone.
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...and these are, in the whole; Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, etc. 'riders'. These companies should have a liability for their 'riders' that are using illegal transportation - but just like it used to be for 'zero-hours' contracts, liability is probably all signed away to the 'rider' in their contract.
 
And on L plates. I would enact a law that nobody can pursue an occupation (eg delivery rider) on L plates, but that would just mean they do it without L plates. These pizza riders are illegals in illegal employment (IMO), able to get away with it because the fuzz are too timid to get involved.

HugeMaximum said:
It's all just entertainment, because we're all in a simulation anyway!
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I have a mate who says that. I'm not sure whether he's serious...

I might well believe everyone else I only meet online are a simulation, but for real life I apply Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is likely to be right.
 
HugeMaximum said:
...and these are, in the whole; Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, etc. 'riders'. These companies should have a liability for their 'riders' that are using illegal transportation - but just like it used to be for 'zero-hours' contracts, liability is probably all signed away to the 'rider' in their contract.
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Yes I'd noticed about half of the illegal electric motorbikes around Cambridge are food delivery riders.
 
EEPhil said:
And when the Russkies jam the GPS signal?🍐
Anything that impedes your ability to accelerate out of trouble should be avoided. Surely a display of the speed limit on the dashboard should be enough. An audible warning if you must. Something interfering with the accelerator pedal is something else to go wrong.
Old cars were better. I had a clue how to fix some problems. Not sure I would now.
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Another opportunity for those who fiddle with car software to bypass the checks and balances methinks ... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Black Hole said:
Is that even possible? I thought, cars being safety-critical, the OS would be thoroughly locked down.
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There's not really an OS in cars. I'm no expert but as I understand it it's a series of chips, each controlling its own jurisdiction, with communications being via the canbus. The canbus is subject to standard protocols, which I would hope are hardened against attack. Of course there are very many sensors - steering angle, wheel speed, accelerometers, you name it, which all feed into the control units as part of their decision making (mapping).
The main control units include engine management, transmission management, and the comfort control module (the latter typically handles things like aircon, windows, etc etc; e.g. rain sensors, light sensors etc will feed into that to activate automatic wipers and headlights). Revised engine management mapping is often the first thing tinkerers do in an attempt to get more power (as part of what's generally called "stage 1" mods, i.e. easy stand-alone mods).
 
Good summary here...

How Many Computers Are in My Car? - NPC Automotive Computers

Unveiling the hidden heroes of your car: explore the world of a car computer and Electronic Control Units (ECUs) that power modern vehicles.
npcautomotive.com npcautomotive.com

Funny that I can't post links using the toolbar 'insert link' (get "You are not allowed to post external links yet."), but can just paste a URL, and it's kindly shown as above!
EDIT: Actually not new...
Black Hole said:
The same must have been true for the latest posts, the links were also "unfurled". Perhaps this is a flaw in Xenforo @af123
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Unfurl'ing is a XenForo feature that automatically shows previews - it is a feature that can be turned off. Will add a post in the above thread!
 
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Wildebeest said:
There's not really an OS in cars...
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There is probably an embedded RTOS, with some kind of JTAG engineering access, but almost certainly locked down although it is possible to change some settings via OBDII (CanBUS). "Modification" generally means engine management remapping, which means adjusting the injector and ignition timings in a look-up table in PROM, not disabling safety features!

Insurers are not quite so fussy about modifications these days, so long as you declare them, but mainly restricted to the "normal" things like alloy wheels, body styling, accessories. It used to be that the mainstream Compare The Market type insurance wouldn't even consider mods, I had a hell of a time with my retrofitted (but totally standard) sunroof, but no problem now. However, I am quite sure that any alteration to the factory fitted safety features of a vehicle would render insurance invalid.
 
It gets problematic when you get to stage 2 type mods, eg increasing the power beyond the ability of the brakes or clutch to deal with it. Yeah there's quite a bit you can alter with OBD II tools. (Especially if you get a good one, and/or that specifically deals with your make rather than a generic one. I have an inexpensive - but brand specific - one that I use just as a diagnostic tool so I don't need to rely on what the garage tells me).
 
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