Remote control cars may be a really bad idea

Hard to believe this story: a rental car provided by an app-based car sharing service called GIG Car Share stopped working when the car was driven into a rural part of northern California.

The car lost cell phone service and would not start. Fortunately, the driver's cell phone continued to work and after twenty calls to customer service, two tow trucks, and a six hour wait, the car was finally towed to a spot where cell phone service was better and the car started. The car service blamed it on a software problem that was fixed by a "reboot" of the car. So it's not clear if lack of cell service was a problem or not.

In both a hilarious and pathetic piece of advice from the customer service folks, they told the poor woman to sleep in the car overnight and see if it started in the morning. Really.

Vintage cars with nothing but good old analog engines and controls are becoming more valuable by the day.

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