Admittedly you're right; there's little to gain competitively from source access there. However, it wouldn't stop car companies from screaming bloody murder if they were required to disclose the source for those components—let alone the rest of the vehicle.
I imagine it would also create a licensing nightmare since navigation and entertainment components often utilize licensed, closed source, third party software. Much more so than the core functions of a vehicle (e.g. engine, steering, braking).
If anything, affording manufacturers the right to keep non-critical vehicle systems closed source would further the goal of opening up the critical portions.
Also, DMCA as a means of protection against remote hacking is tantamount to security through obscurity—but worse. While public source code access isn't some magic solution to security, it seems likely that it would vastly improve automotive security via allowing security researchers to do their far job more efficiently.
I imagine it would also create a licensing nightmare since navigation and entertainment components often utilize licensed, closed source, third party software. Much more so than the core functions of a vehicle (e.g. engine, steering, braking).
If anything, affording manufacturers the right to keep non-critical vehicle systems closed source would further the goal of opening up the critical portions.
Also, DMCA as a means of protection against remote hacking is tantamount to security through obscurity—but worse. While public source code access isn't some magic solution to security, it seems likely that it would vastly improve automotive security via allowing security researchers to do their far job more efficiently.