I recall when I bought my first hybrid that the dealer said there were something like 15 different computers controlling things, from the ICE engine to the transmission to the charging of the battery, etc. They weren’t networked together.

I also once ran afoul of a software bug in the ECU of a Honda CR/V. That’s the embedded system that manages the whole operation of the engine - from fuel injection to timing to emissions etc. As they progress through model years they use different ECUs that require different software. Even though I work in IT, I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to update it myself, given the different models, firmware revisions, etc. I was more than happy to take that car to a dealer to have them confirm my car had buggy software and to upgrade it to the right new version.

NHTSA are the ones who investigate safety issues and issue recall notices. Once they have done that then the manufacturer has very specific legal requirements to follow. Hiding data from them would eventually come to light, and that would be very bad. Look at the diesel emissions scandal for one example. Volkswagen payed billions in fines for that, and a dozen or so employees including the CEO have been indicted. A few have pled guilty and been sentenced to jail.

I’ve had software recalls for Toyotas and Hondas, both of which involved physical recall paperwork and required me to visit a dealer to install the new software.

Just because a software recall can be remedied over the air it doesn’t make it any less of a recall. As others have said, there’s a legal definition to a recall. They are issued by the NHTSA and require specific legal responses from the manufacturer.

And then when you have an emergency the response is along the lines of:

“Thank you for requesting to speak with a rider support agent. All agents are currently busy assisting other Waymo customers, but the next available agent will assist you as soon as possible. There are currently 32 other customers in front of you. Thank you for your patience.”

How soon until we see something like the end of the movie Starship Troopers, where the latest batch of recruits appears to be about 13 years old?

If he allows this then the other 364 days of the year will turn into open season on cops. Gangs will be out for vengeance, and will not let it slide.

Not to mention that virtually every gun owner out there will prepare for such a day. You’ll end up with countless firefights between a relatively small number of cops and a lot of heavily armed groups with nothing to lose. Unless the orange Cheeto has some way of magically confiscating all firearms ahead of this then I think it’s going to be very difficult to convince the cops to do this.

You know what they say about assumptions…

An event like that held somewhere in the US these days would likely result in pages of documented collisions and other incidents. But that’s likely because:

1. Most states don’t require any sort of licensing or training in safe operation of boats, or at least a very minimal level.
2. Many boaters in the US seem to think it’s perfectly fine to operate boats while drinking alcohol…

I use Calibre to remove the DRM from all ebooks I buy. Not that I buy a lot of them, but hell if I’ll let Amazon be the keeper of the keys.

Used GPS on boats as early as the late 1980’s, back when selective availability was still a thing. For those unfamiliar with it, GPS was initially military-only, and when they allowed civilian use they were concerned that US adversaries could use it for precision attacks. So SA was included in the civilian version, which introduced a random error of up to something like 1000 yards.

The truly ironic thing is that the US Coast Guard (a branch of the very military that created SA) saw the usefulness of GPS for marine navigation, but only if SA was removed. 1000 yards could easily mean the difference between a boat running aground (or worse) or not.

So the USCG built ground stations that would receive GPS signals, calculate the SA error, and broadcast a fixed signal. That was called Differential GPS, or DGPS. Boaters could buy special DGPS receivers for years, which were as accurate as GPS without the SA error.

Eventually the military was convinced to do away with SA entirely so DGPS was retired. It was only after that happened that GPS became globally useful for car, hiking, etc. navigation.

Reminds me of an article I read a year or more ago at this point about a mine using a similar EV truck. It would regenerate so much electricity during a round trip that the batteries would be pretty much fully recharged.

Edit: Found it:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1124478_world-s-largest-ev-never-has-to-be-recharged

Simpsons did it!

I’d be more concerned if it had flown away.