Tech bros love to boast about moving fast and breaking things, so it comes as some relief to find an instance where they've moved at a more stately 17 knots and yet still utterly fucked it.
In this case the "it" being carpool vehicles. Programmed to treat movement without the engine being switched on as either theft or witchcraft, they instantly bricked themselves in response.
What happened when these vehicles travelled by ferry was perhaps predictable...
(unrelated pic!)
For people after the original story, this has an overview (it's also resurfaced in the FT this week, but is locked behind a paywall)
Oh! The Law of Unintended Consequences.
Assuming this relates to GPS on the cars, I imagine they got upset too at the thought of "driving" without the engine on over water! That's definitely Witchcraft!
@Henrysbridge @DreadShips
More probably the accelerometer registering plus wheels not turning. Which is stupid, clearly Bay Area techbros have never used a ferry or the Channel Tunnel or a rail/car system or a car elevator parking system or …
And these guys want to put a chip in your brain?
It'd be an easier way of spotting if somebody was a witch rather than seeing if they weigh the same as a duck...
Right. I can imagine other situations where this might trigger by accident. Putting in self destructive functionality is just a bad idea in general because it's not like you get anything for it and all it does is annoy the customer.
They need a bumper sticker, "I brick for tow trucks".
@DreadShips The San Francisco Bay hasn't had car ferries in a very long time, so this is indeed witchcraft from a Silicon Valley perspective.
At least until a Bay Area startup invents a high-tech method of moving cars over water without expensive bridges or tunnels.
Code was clearly written by someone who never even witnessed a car being towed cause of illegal parking.
@DreadShips Where did this happen? For Cruise and Waymo, I don't think they were deployed anywhere that had ferrys, but they understood they could be moved by towing and could even help move themselves off the tow with remote drivers (I speak from first hand experience).
Was this a Tesla FSD thing? Because those guys are real chucklefucks.
How would this misfeature ever have worked? Didn't you have to ship the cars to the dealership? Or have one towed, ever?
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