[It's unlike aviation in that an update can be transmitted all over the world while people are sleeping.
Well, we all know what forced pushed updates can do. I'm not just talking laptops and phones.
My wife was driving her 3 month old MINI on the highway at 65mph when the engine cut out. She managed to get to the shoulder. She called me to get our AAA info. I said half-jokingly that BMW must have pushed a firmware update. Well, she called the dealership while waiting for the tow truck. Yup, that's exactly what happened. They bricked her car at 65mph.
If that's true then this will have lead to a new procedure/practice at BMW.
nb. I'm not sure that is the reason. It could just as easily be a loose wire or something, car dealers aren't famous for rigor.
They confirmed it had just been updated at that point.
There's not much that the dealership does with the car arrives from the UK. It's been thoroughly tested at the plant and is road ready. I've been around MINI's plant in Oxford. It is amazing. One car a minute and each one is custom. They've never made two cars the same.
The car has the OnStar-type radio communication system that you can subscribe to. When my wife ordered the car (built to her specificiations), she declined it but clearly the system is always active and BMW are in constant communication with the car. Who knows what information is sent back and forth. There's nothing to indicate the system is active and nothing in the paperwork to say that it is either. Yet, small updates occur in stealth-like Microsoft fashion. Weird shit has happened such as the wipers stopped working. She called the dealership, waited a couple of minutes and then they worked again. Similar thing with the interior mood lighting. The former is potentially dangerous, the latter is annoying.
If a firmware update can brick the car, disable the wipers or mess up the interior lighting (and who knows what else), I sure as hell wouldn't trust an autonomous system to understand the difference between a tree and a truck.