STM317 said:In reply to iansane :
I guess I'd ask if it has to be under tested code? There are plenty of places where code is thoroughly tested in simulations and controlled environments before it's released in the public realm. Other automakers are doing it and rolling their tech out in much more controlled/limited ways. "As bad as an inexperienced teenager" shouldn't be the standard we set for tech being sent into the world.
A modern passenger aircraft has 150 million lines of code. How many aircraft are released with "under tested code"? 737 Max jumps to mind, but nothing else really (there are a bunch of plane people here that might clarify). What kind of track record do those aircraft have in the field? Now consider that there are far fewer "threats" for an aircraft in the air than a vehicle moving through traffic. Airliners are typically traveling very far apart, and have 3 dimensions of movement to maneuver around potential issues. Vehicles travel in close proximity to one another, at different rates of speed, in two dimensions, while also dealing with stop/go situations, hazards in the path of travel and intersecting paths, etc.
By untested I guess I mean unperfected, because I imagine there is always going to be room for improvement. Tests can be finished. And I'm not saying inexperienced teenager should be our standard but that's a worst case. Hell, is unperfected code any worse than half of the "normal" drivers out there? I don't know if you live in an urban setting but the kind of asshatery I see on our roadways multiples times a day is breathtaking. Although the bad driving I see ultimately stems from selfishness and not-giving-a-E36 M3 about others on the roadway. I guess that might be my underlying viewpoint. I'd rather see an autopilots released to be tested and improved then shelled up on closed circuits to die out and be held off for decades of testing.