Andrew Holland
Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2018
- Messages
- 62
Then as a software engineer, I wouldn't look up! Because over your head are hundreds if not thousands of vehicles with much more software controlling pretty much ever facet of their vehicles as they fly above you.
Seriously though, there are good reasons for have more software for trains. For a start like planes, the more software they have monitoring or controlling software, the more data on performance the maintenance teams can have. Mechanical & electrical systems will go bang at some point, but as software engineers & mechanics learn more about the reasons, the more they can learn to spot the signs of failure, and thus build the software to anticipate the failures before they happen. Its maybe not so critical in trains as it in planes, but nonetheless these software systems can, and will have valuable benefits in future. Yes there are going to be issues and bugs at the beginning, you yourself will know that, but as these are ironed out then operators will be better able to maximise their units and better plan for regular & irregular maintenance.
Yup that makes sense to me. The software systems in modern passenger planes are clearly there for very good reasons and - mostly - make the planes much safer than they otherwise would be (the 737MAX being an obvious and tragic exception). I've always felt totally comfortable flying on an airbus knowing that its absolute reliance on proven and well-tested fly by wire software and control systems makes it a plane with an impressive safety record overall.
As for trains, I guess then it's early days for this technology and so failures should be expected. Not sure most most passengers will like the idea that they are inadvertantly taking part in a "beta" program as these trains are run in and bugs ironed out though...