I am sure this article has been shared before, however I wanted to have a look at this topic.
The articles short summary is this:
All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label – making cars the worst category of products that we have ever reviewed
I am currently driving a 2014 Ford Fiesta which just has a radio with a CD player and Bluetooth. I do not need more than that in a car.
The reason I am looking at all is that that the Fiesta does not belong to me and the friend owning it will be moving out in a bit, so I kinda need another one.
There seems to be one brand that is not as bad as the other ones (but still bad): Renault; mozilla's review...
Maybe I will have a look at their cars.
What do you guys think? Stick to older used cars and not use an EV or look at which of the manufacturers have the least bad privacy policy?
We need more development of open source cars
I'd love this, but I doubt that it is ever going to happen. Open-Source-Hardware is not as widely spread as open source software which is also still a niche. The big difference is that you can easily develop OSS on your own in your free time, but with hardware its a lot more difficult. And then think of all the parts necessary to build a car and then again all the certifications to actually get it on the street and after that the question of liability in case of accidents....
I think the real obstacle isn't even the regulations but the safety systems. The various US DMVs can comprehend things like scratch-built or kit cars, but the level of engineering to make a thing that can even sometimes decelerate a person from like 60 to 0 without killing them more with exploding airbags is several levels above that required to make a thing with wheels that drives forward.
So you can build and probably even drive a car from plans you got off Github, but if you crash it it will kill you.
I'd be happy to have a car that goes max 50 kph
The need is an OSS ecu that drops in present cars.
Speeduino is a thing. Not exactly drop-in, but it's a start.
All it takes is one company to do open hardware. Then all the other companies will use it, because its cheaper for them without having to do the initial r&d.
If it's licensed properly, then all subsequent customizations by these other companies will get shared, so the project just gets better and better with time.
Interesting point you bring up.
The inner workings and overall principles of the internal combustion engine are well-documented. There are also open-source engine controllers - Speeduino comes to mind. Electric motors and their controllers are also well-documented.
People build kit cars all the time, enough that many U.S. states actually have specific standards that a kit car must meet in order to be road legal; hilariously, these standards are often far lower than vehicles manufactured by an OEM.
We don't need a foss ice to have open source cars. Even setting ice aside, as long as the BOM includes easy to find, off the shelf components, its still a Foss project
I love the idea but the cynic in me sees the Mountains of hurdles, starting with the gigantic piles of money you need for development and certification.
Non profits and governments fund open source development all the time. We just need one country to not be selfish one time, and everyone will benefit.
You mean... Trains?...