Yesterday, whilst staring at my hamstrung BlackBerry and visualising a flat-lining EGC readout on its screen, I began to ponder whether the recent core switch failure at Research In Motion that plunged many smartphone users into the dark ages (well, in terms of cellphone usability that could be 10 years ago) could afflict the cars of the future.
Increasingly, cars are no longer just a means of getting from A to B with the odd back-road blat or track session occasionally thrown in. They’re becoming an extension of our smartphones and offices: capable of pretty much anything from streaming music, receiving test messages and in the case of systems such as BMW’s ConnectedDrive extending to ‘web browsing, sending out a distress signal to BMW’s roadside assistance centre and beaming Google map-sourced locations and interest points, from offices to ATMs and so forth, onto your sat-nav…
Much like the web-surfing/messaging apps and do-dads that make our smartphones such an integral part of our everyday slog, these vehicular gizmos remove the need to think too deeply, and simply serve up whatever information we require at a mere whim/press of a button. But in the same vein as our smartphones, these systems also function on the principle of information being sent from a user (car/phone) to a central hub to be processed and returned to the user in a neat, digestible digital package…until there’s a hardware glitch á la BlackBerry data service or the janitor unplugs the server to run his floor polisher.
So, could a similar fault to the BlackBerry data service hiccup that’s caused so much havoc (if you can call being unable to BBM your mates and returning to the drudgery of accessing your email via a computer havoc) possibly bring motorists with “connected” cars to their knees?
Being something of a melodramatic luddite, I have to confess that having watched the attached BMW ConnectedDrive video and been largely impressed by, the neat features extolled therein, I still have to confess to entertaining visions of such a “connected” car sending out a distress signal that tells intelligent life on the outskirts of the galaxy that a car has broken down 50 km outside Calvinia while the chap in the on-line roadside assistance centre, unaware of the janitor/switch failure scenario unfolding around him, wonders why his switchboard has been so quiet of late. There’s even the chilling scenario of being unable to find an ATM via the Google maps-enabled sat-nav and having to actually stop the car and interact with another person. And let’s not even get started about the whole Big brother issue surrounding the ability of various firms being able to track your vehicle or just what a distraction to the driver in-car networking could be.
Childish, I know, but given the magnitude of the flapping that has accompanied the recent BlackBerry blackout, it does pose the question of just how much we can trust the back-end stability of these connected services which are fast becoming de rigeur in new cars… Or maybe I’m just being creeped out by the Darth Vader-esque voiceover in the video…
http://youtu.be/znu66z5ZL9k
