Hacker News Reader

Comment by Declanomous | Hacker News Reader

That's how it is on my car, but at the same time my car basically has no fancy electronics.

I understand software engineers pulling stunts like this, because there isn't actually a regulated engineering license, but I'd honestly have expected automotive engineers to be vehemently opposed to putting the stereo on the same system as the brakes.

View on HN

It's not the software engineers that are the problem it's the automotive design managers who decide that there will be one computer and one buss.

The DOT should have standards for this stuff. Infotainment system shouldn't have control authority or share critical buses with the engine and braking/traction control system.

Sure there is, just not in US where everyone can make cards with software engineers written on them after a bootcamp.

http://www.ordemengenheiros.pt/pt/a-ordem/colegios-e-especia...

https://blog.vdi.de/tag/informatik/

I wonder if some of this is to do with weight reduction. To have seperate buses must add a lot of extra equipment and wiring.

This means more weight and more power required to operate the electrics and in turn means lower MPG, higher fuel consumption and a more expensive car to design and manufacture.

The net outcome is a less competitive car in a competitive market.

I've worked with software engineers working on the CAN bus, and I had the same questions as you. According to them it has to do with the amount of cabling needed as well as electrical interference. A car has a lot of cabling going all over (a couple of hundred meters in total was the number I got), and if you can put as much of it as possible on the same bus(es), you save yourself a lot of problems.

So I suppose weight could be a factor, but space seems to be the big one.

Well the obvious solution it to go wireless! What could possibly go wrong?

It looks like a CAN bus hub weights about a pound. That's negligible, considering I have about twice that weight in garbage sitting in my cup holders.

[1]: https://www.autozone.com/electrical-and-lighting/can-bus-hub...

How much does death weigh?

-21 grams apparently /s

I mean "a lot" in computer terms is like 4 lbs of equipment but since the brake pads on a truck weigh in at more than that I assume its not weight related.

This begs the question: how do you know this is true?

Well JD Power listed Fords MyTouch as the biggest customer complaint of 2011[0].

I think customers might know how messed up their car is.

[0]https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/aggravating-myfo...

My post makes no sense. I replied to the wrong parent

Reply on news.ycombinator.com