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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-a-convertible dept.

Bruce Perens is organizing a conference on Open Cars. It will take place Tuesday, November 6th, 2018 in Orlando, Florida, USA. The concept behind Open Cars, is the idea that the hardware as well as the software conform to open standards and that, as an automotive product, it must be sufficiently accessible and modular to enable technology upgrades, aftermarket products, and testing by security researchers. The interfaces must be openly documented and be backed by openly disclosed APIs and hardware interfaces. It would not have to run on open data, but could nonetheless protect data privacy and security as well as or better than proprietary automotive products do today. As the emphasis is on the standards and interfaces, both hardware and software, it would not necessarily require that manufacturers base their vehicles on open source software.

The automobile industry thinks they have a solution: lease rather than sell autonomous cars, lock the hood shut, and maintain them exclusively through their dealers.

That works great for the 1%. But what about the rest of us? The folks who drive a dented, 10-year-old car? We should have the option to drive autonomous cars, and to participate in the same world as the more wealthy folks.

Open Cars will be the solution. These are automobiles sold with standard fittings, plugs and standards, so that an autonomous driving computer can be purchased in the aftermarket, installed and tested by a certified mechanic, and put on the road. Similarly, the on-board computer, communication, navigation, and entertainment system on an Open Car will be pluggable, purchased on the aftermarket, and will fit into well-defined niches in the vehicle.


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  • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday July 17 2018, @08:56PM (1 child)

    by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @08:56PM (#708519) Journal

    It's a good idea, but why would you have this conference in Florida of all places? There are so many nice places that will have good weather in November, I just don't get why you would choose Florida.

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  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday July 19 2018, @12:31PM

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 19 2018, @12:31PM (#709341) Homepage Journal

    I was in Florida once in November. It was so hot I couldn't leave the air-conditioned hospital (where my father was staying) for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe it's an attempt to keep people from wandering away from the meeting?