At least polling a physical button can be done with electronics that don’t require running code, meaning you can always program one of the buttons to be a “reset” switch if needed.
Like in my car, when the infotainment system decided to lock up…
No amount of frustrated tapping on the screen did anything, and with no physical buttons associated with the unit, I had no way to reboot it. Yes, I tried turning the car off and back on, but I guess I didn’t do it for long enough.
And typically, it happened just as I was leaving to go somewhere and wanted to use Android Auto as my satnav. Instead I had to make do with my phone yapping at me from inside the glovebox.
While driving about I noticed something curious. It was possible to figure out which bits of the car were controlled by the infotainment system, and which parts weren’t. The bluetooth wasn’t, my phone kept connecting to it, but bluetooth audio output was. But the radio wasn’t. The camera based lane detection wasn’t, but the camera based speed limit recognition system was – that must be tied into the satnav of the car which was clearly not working. But the dashboard was working, even though I can send certain parts of the infotainment system to the dashboard display.
And of course the car itself worked perfectly, because not even French car manufacturers are that daft. They’re not Tesla.
The fix? Spend five minutes with the car switched off while I went to collect something off Facebook Marketplace.
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