Combustion engines grind Linus Torvalds' gears
Just like his once famous temper, Linux kernel creator also ditched classic engines ... in favor of EVs
Mark Zuckerberg sits behind the wheel of a Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, Open AI’s Sam Altman gets from A to B in a Koenigsegg Regera, and for many of us, Elon Musk drives us mad. But what about Linux kingpin Linus Torvalds?
The creator of the Linux kernel shuns the traditional method of transport loved by many wealthy motorheads in tech and swapped out his aging banger for a sturdy Volvo all-electric car.
“I don't like combustion engines and the instant torque at low RPM just makes [EVs] more fun to drive,” he said in an interview with TFiR at the Open Source Summit in Vienna. “I’m not that interested in the whole self-driving [thing].”
That’s just as well because The Reg isn’t sure when that specific transportation nirvana is going to show up. It’s been predicted by Musk to emerge in Europe and China during 2025 but … Musk and grandstanding forecasts? Best to apply the brakes on any hopes for now.
Torvalds said: “We had a 20-year-old car that we replaced with a modern EV and I like the fact that, okay, it does lane following and it does all the basics that our old car did not do but at the same time, yeah, it's like a small detail in the big picture.”
EV motors are “simpler,” and manufacturers don’t need a “decade of experience to make a good electric motor,” said Torvalds. “The number of moving parts in a traditional engine and an electric motor is like two orders of magnitude different.”
Unlike some tech bros, the world’s most famous software developer sees his car as an appliance not an appendage. He reckons it runs Linux, “but I don’t touch it”.
The new generation of electric Volvo cars runs on the VolvoCars.OS, and it says the underlying operating systems include Android Automotive, OS, Autosar, and Linux. Not that Torvalds wishes to tinker with such things in his vehicle.
“I'm not a car person and I say that as somebody who actually had a sports car for 20 years. I had this small two seater convertible that I really liked driving but even then I was never really a car person, so a car to me is just … convenience.”
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“One of the advantages of EV was this whole smooth acceleration and not having to change gears, [which] … made the car so much better, while a lot of serious car people hate that part, they want the rumble of the V8 … they like whole manual gear changing."
So the allure of self-driving cars doesn’t seem to be a feature for Torvalds, just the rapid acceleration and the easier use of driving, though he didn’t mention the environment, the cost of buying EVs or the price and lack of infrastructure to charge them.
And we presume the more mature Linus doesn’t partake in road rage, in the same way he no longer shouts at fellow developers when behind the keyboard. ®