I belong to Generation Y, as most of you who would read this probably do also. Generation Y is a term – and now a cliché – that has been used in popular American and European literature to loosely describe those who were born in the 80’s and 90’s. I can't be sure whether it is used to describe Sri Lankans, but I use it anyway.

Long before the invention of the modern computer, Henry Ford conceived the assembly line in his car manufacturing plant and thus sparked off the race to automation. The automation revolution that started off outside the car chassis, after a strange yet unsurprising sequence of events along the years, has led to a series of automations inside, under the bonnet and right down to the wheels – this time aided by computers. Beginning this week, we will examine how as many as fifty embedded micro processors in some cars help make modern automobiles safer and more efficient.