Ford Dumping Windows For QNX In New Vehicles 314
innocent_white_lamb writes "Ford has announced that their in-vehicle technology called Sync will be based on Blackberry's QNX operating system and will no longer use Microsoft Windows. My own 2013 Ford Escape has the Windows-based Sync system. I wonder if they will issue an update to change it to QNX."
Anonymous sources inside Ford cited reliability problems with Windows and lower licensing costs for the switch to the classic realtime OS.
QNX 6 (Score:2, Insightful)
I miss QNX 6, damn you Blackberry!
Re:F/OSS Platform Needed (Score:5, Insightful)
And it would never sell. Really what we need is something like iOS/OS X running on it - everyone knows the interface, you don't have to play with it, it doesn't randomly fall over, and the applications are locked down. Android's mistake is being too fragmented - different features by different carriers. I don't see how Ubuntu is defective by design either. Consumers want something that works, and does what they want it to do. They don't care about ideological arguments over licenses.
Re:Obligatory (Score:4, Insightful)
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.
It's called the Idiot Light, and has been around for decades.
Tenths of a cent, my friend (Score:2, Insightful)
Carmakers optimize costs at sub-one-cent levels. "Can't be much" is the antithesis of the automotive beancounter mantra.
Re:Having used both (Score:5, Insightful)
That's why i buy cars built in America, Like Honda, toyota, and Nissan.
You think I am joking. those three companies build more cars in the USA than Ford, GM and Chrylser.
Re:Having used both (Score:3, Insightful)
Why is my mileage going to vary if they switch to QNX? Better navigation package?
Those who were suckered into paying $2000 for what amounts to an in-car GPS and MP3 player should not be worried about mileage or gas costs, for their wallet navigated away from common sense long ago.
Re:Having used both (Score:5, Insightful)
One word: tariffs.
Japanese auto companies can dodge the import tariffs on completed autos if they are built in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina. American auto companies can also dodge the tariffs (and UAW strong-arming) by building them in Mexico.
Thanks, NAFTA!
Re:Having used both (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Having used both (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't care if it takes me 2 seconds or 0.2 seconds to shift gears. That's not the performance I need from my car. What I need from my car is being able to downshift *prior* to needing to accelerate, like when anticipating a merge. What I need from my car is being able to use the clutch to apply just the right amount of power to the wheels to get traction on slippery surfaces, like when pulling out of an icy parking spot over snow onto a plowed road.
You are correct though, that a computer can control the clutch more quickly than I can, but it doesn't see (yet) when I need power and downshift before I need it or how to apply just the right amount of power to gain traction on surfaces that are not uniform (again, yet).