Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS
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Safety first: To ensure safety, the browser can only be used when parked. Streaming content will continue audio-only if driving commences. Some functional restrictions may apply, for example, files cannot be downloaded.
I don't like that bit. Obviously, it's foolish to be off browsing the web while you're driving. But disabling the browser goes beyond stopping that! What if a driver, for example, is using an online map and needs to see the map to know what turn to make? Or what if a passenger wants to browse the internet?
Vivaldi, and Opera under Jon, has always been about putting the user in control. I hope Vivaldi continues to do that, and this one exception remains an isolated incident!
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@Eggcorn , in a driving car browsing and entertainment don't work, only the navigator an the handfree calls, as in any car navigator, sinc the first ones
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@Catweazle In other words: Vivaldi's just following the industry standard? Remember the old talk between parents and kids? The kid would say...
"But all my friends were doing it."
...and the parent would reply...
"If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff too?"
The parent is right! Just because all your friends are doing something, just because something's the industry standard, doesn't mean you should do it too.
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@Eggcorn Check the laws in your area because there are likely rules or at least guidelines that discourage such functionality from being added.
For example, in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has guidelines that disallow internet browsing while driving. This even applies to passenger usage when the screen is viewable or within reach of the driver.
PDF discussing guidelines: https://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/distracted_driving/pdf/distracted_guidelines-FR_04232013.pdf
While Vivaldi is negotiating being added to different vehicle brands, they likely have to guarantee that they will meet such regulations to avoid the car maker getting into trouble with various regulating bodies.
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@nomadic said in Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS:
For example, in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has guidelines that disallow internet browsing while driving. This even applies to passenger usage when the screen is viewable or within reach of the driver. [emphasis mine]
If so, that's an absurd guideline!
While Vivaldi is negotiating being added to different vehicle brands, they likely have to guarantee that they will meet such regulations to avoid the car maker from getting into trouble with various regulating bodies.
If the article said "to comply with safety regulations" (or something), I wouldn't be objecting. But it doesn't, the wording implies that the Vivaldi team thinks this is a positive and legitimate safety feature.
I don't want to make too big a deal out of this. This aside, Vivaldi's software that's controlled by the user and not the other way around. I just hope that isn't changing!
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@Eggcorn , it's not all like that, not only in the US is it forbidden to surf the internet while driving, why not because of a traffic rule, but because of common sense.
But no one can stop you from doing it, while the car is parked.
However, it can offer you different services that can be used while driving apart from the function of a browser, listening to streaming music or traffic announcements, receiving calls, etc. that do not force you to look away from the road.
I believe that these points are fulfilled in Vivaldi in PoleSrar, according to the description. It also has nothing to do with the freedom of the user with the product to use it, without putting his life and that of others in danger.Industrial standards are important, if they did not exist, any appliance would have a different plug, incompatible with each other, any machine would have screws with their own random measurements, there would not even be a uniform measurement, we already have enough with the problems caused by certain countries still using parts of the body as a unit of measurement, as in the middle ages.
All this has nothing to do with this phrase of 'jumping, because your friends do it too' but rather jumping out of necessity and for its own good.
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@Catweazle You missed the "This even applies to passenger usage" bit in Nomadic's post.
Edit: You also missed the "Obviously, it's foolish to be off browsing the web while you're driving." bit in my post.
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@Eggcorn , it is forbidden for the passenger next to the driver to use the navigator on the dashboard to surf the internet or watch a movie, as it may distract the driver, but not for the passengers in the back seats, if the tablet or navigator is put there. It is not always necessary to use the navigator as such, if you know the way well or in any case you are only on the same highway all the time.
This is often used on trips for kids in the back seats to play movies or cartoons to keep them busy. This is completely legal.
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@Catweazle said in Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS:
it is forbidden for the passenger next to the driver to use the navigator on the dashboard to surf the internet or watch a movie, as it may distract the driver, but not for the passengers in the back seats, if the tablet or navigator is put there.
I don't have much sympathy for drivers who want to browse the Internet, or text their friends, when they should be looking at the road. But I don't have much sympathy for overbearing "safety rules" either. Nothing wrong with a passenger browsing the Internet or something, so long as the driver's keeping his eyes on the road (if the driver finds the tablet distracting, he should order his passenger to turn it off).
Industrial standards are important, if they did not exist, any appliance would have a different plug, incompatible with each other...
That's a very different kind of industry standard! Standard weights and measurements (i.e. metric and imperial), web standards, etc.: That's well and good. Those standards are for the sake of compatibility. Web standards, for example, let any standards-compliant browser view any standards-compliant website.
I'm not talking about standards for the sake of compatibility. Take seatbelts for example. If you're making a car, you should include a seatbelt. Not because all the other car-makers include a seatbelt, not because it's the industry standard. But because it's the responsible thing to do!
Imagine that seatbelts were not the industry standard, imagine that few car-makers included seatbelts in their cars. You can't control their actions, but you can control yours! So, you're still irresponsible if you make a car without a seatbelt.
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Passengers can still use their cell phones, they just can't use a big distracting screen that's within eyesight of the driver. Get over it.
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@Eggcorn , as @xandork says, not the same a passenger callung or using his mobile, than using a big screen in the dashboard un sight of the driver.
Safety measures are necessary and have nothing to do with impositions or restrictions on freedoms, since it is not only about the freedom of the driver, but also the safety of other drivers and people on the road.
The same as common sense are the other rules and measures that regulate traffic that take away your freedom to drive at 200km/h down a narrow street in front of a school, impeded by elevations that cross this street.
The freedom of each ends at the point where it conflicts with the freedom and security of others.
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@Eggcorn said in Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS:
If so, that's an absurd guideline!
It is a regulation, not just a guideline.
In my opinion, it is over-regulation, but rules have to be made for fools. It would be next to impossible to prosecute a driver for watching movies while driving if they had a front-seat passenger, and they were permitted to use the central screen to browse the Internet while the car was moving.
Even with this regulation, a front-seat passenger could watch movies and browse the Internet on a tablet or mobile phone.
There are already laws for careless driving and dangerous driving. Do we need to regulate for everything that might distract a driver?
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@Pesala , we need, as you say, there a lot of rednecks and idiots out there, that make it vital to have this regulation to protect not only the drivers itself, but all others. Sad, but it's the reality.
A car is a dangerous machine with more of a ton, which move with at leat 13m/s in the city and more than 40m/s ot of it, which need a permanent control every second.
If you jump from a fourth floor, you reach the asphalt with 'only' 50 km/h, with how comfortable current cars are, we no longer notice what their speed is and the consequences it can have for a pedestrian in the event of an accident. -
@Catweazle said in Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS:
A car is a dangerous machine with more of a ton, which move with at leat 13m/s in the city and more than 40m/s ot of it, which need a permanent control every second.
On that we agree! And lack of respect for cars is a problem. Most drivers where I live won't even obey the speed limit.
@Pesala said in Vivaldi in Polestar: The first browser for Android Automotive OS:
[R]ules have to be made for fools.
In my experience, "rules made for fools" is a way for authorities to pretend to take the problem seriously, as opposed to actually taking the problem seriously. In America (at least my part of America), the police can't be bothered to enforce the speed limit! That's why most drivers break it, they know they can get away with it.
That's a huge part of the reason I detest "rules made for fools": Authorities who make "rules for fools" are lazy workers who want to look like they're doing their job, as opposed to actually doing their job!
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@Eggcorn , also in the EU there are drivers who breaks the rules, but here the rules a controlled by police, even with helicopters in the highways, cams in traffic lights, which make a nice photo if you don't respect the red light, and radar in streets and highways. You can break the speed limits or other traffic rules, but you got a "nice" letter at home, apart resting points from the driver license in bigger infractions, and if it reach 0, you can buy a bicicle.
Apart in the EU is much harder and more expensive to get a driver license than in the USA. -
@Catweazle We have some red-light cameras here too. Not anywhere near enough! But some.
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I am half a century old this coming october and i have seen an awful reduction in basic rules of the road here in the uk ever since i passed my driving test when i was just 19 years old..it is a very hostile driving environment now and dashcams are not just a luxury but a much needed addition and this alone says it all about driving as a whole.
I have always driven a volvo car from the old bricks right up to my current newer model and i am very concerned about the future of our roads. i fear my driving time is coming to an end sooner than expected as there is complete disregard for basic road rules and speed restrictions etc are blatantly ignored. -
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