The road is long…

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.

Just over half a decade ago, most cars had tubes and valves, crude mechanical fans and belts that were relatively simple in their workings and therefore easy to fix when they broke down. But with each passing year, car makers are adding electronic computers under the bonnets as they look for more sophisticated ways to control the engine and regulate its myriad components. These computers help carmakers meet increasingly demanding emissions and fuel-economy standards that their customers and governments around the world are demanding.

For the car makers, these computers simplify the manufacture and design process of cars, and they also provide advanced diagnostics that tells the driver when a service is due. They reduce the amount of wiring in cars, reducing with it room for things to go wrong and often making cars easier to service, but they also require mechanical engineers and servicemen to acquire a whole new set of skills in order to care for them. The most heartening developments that have been made possible thanks to onboard computers in cars would undoubtedly be the addition of safety features that would otherwise have been impossible. These features also add to the comfort and convenience of the drive.

Next week, we will investigate the factors that have made it necessary for car makers to embed computers in cars and what we have achieved so far as a result. Perhaps the technology that's necessary to build driverless cars is already here? Email us at technopage@gmail.com and join in the discussion.