I was hurtling down a highway last evening at 80 miles an hour and while executing a particularly sharp and long curve along the road I could not help but think about the trust we all must put in our vehicles. The number of things that could go wrong at any moment is infinite. And yet, for the most part, things don't go wrong. I mentally patted myself on the back that it is good that I recycle the car every couple years reducing problems induced by wear and tear. However, I also immediately thought that isn't it better that once you have put some miles or a couple years on a car you must trust it *more* not less? It has gone through the only real QA (Quality Assurance) possible. The rubber hasn't just hit the road but survived and thrived. Should I really be returning that car in favor of a brand new with a better smell but less real-world testing potentially putting myself at risk all over again every few years?

Who knows? We don't. But we do know that this isn't going to be a problem for long. More than likely the next car will offer over-the-air-updates for software that would more or less run the car - essentially continuously making it more and less safe at the same time.