Cars are now more complicated than ever, and now computers play a crucial part in the safe and efficient operation of modern automobiles. with the recent massive Toyota recall, "Should we be worried that our cars are controlled by software?"

RMS: « The proposal for a right-to-repair law illustrates the harm done by proprietary software in cars. »

I wrote last week about the case for open source car software and, lo and behold, BMW might be pushing forward with the idea- albeit not in self-driving cars quite yet. ;)

Speed Dreams is an open source, multi platform (works on Windows and Linux) motorsport simulator. It was forked in late 2008 from the famous open racing car simulator TORCS, in order to implement exciting new features, cars, tracks and AI opponents, to make a more enjoyable game for the player, as well as constantly improving visual and physics realism.

One might have thought Microsoft was back rattling the patented software sabres against Linux and open source this week, reading some of the recent reports regarding Redmond’s patent infringement suit against automotive navigation and GPS player TomTom. However, upon further review, it seems that Microsoft is making a point to say that these suits are not aimed at the Linux OS or open source.

Despite Microsoft assurances that a patent lawsuit against GPS navigation company TomTom is not targeting the overall Linux community, open-source leaders said on Thursday that the legal action is antagonistic toward the movement.

Microsoft filed suit against TomTom today, alleging that the in-car navigation company's devices violate eight of its patents -- including three that relate to TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel.

Microsoft Corp. was sued by Dutch navigation-device maker TomTom NV, which claims the world’s largest software maker infringes four of its patents used for automobile navigation.
The suit comes less than a month after Microsoft filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington seeking to block some of TomTom’s U.S. imports.

[Swedish] government officials project IT savings amounting to 50 percent within the next five years – approximately the cost of 400 fully-equipped police cars