Steve Wozniak Explains That Faulty Software Caused His Car Troubles

Uh oh. Steve Woz is having some “very scary” trouble with his 2010 Toyota Prius. At a recent event in San Francisco he went off topic and talked about how faulty software is to blame for his car’s accelerator troubles:

Toyota has this accelerator problem we’ve all heard about. Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn’t get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again—safely. This is software. It’s not a bad accelerator pedal. It’s very scary, but luckily for me I can hit the brakes.

Toyota’s reponse? They’re looking into it:

We’re in the business of investigating complaints, assessing problems and finding remedies. After many years of exhaustive testing we have not found any evidence of an electronic [software] problem that would have led to unwanted acceleration.

I hope things get figured out soon, otherwise Woz might have to switch to a Segway as his main mode of transportation. [CNET via Jalopnik]

Written by: Rosa Golijan