Car Computers – Making the Driving Experience Easier

December 19, 2009

Cars have developed a lot since their inception decades ago. Having one was considered a luxurious item. Still, for some high-end brands, it continues to be so. On the other hand, people chose to purchase a car for practicality.

Nowadays, the makers of luxury cars gave in to the demands pushed by political and environmental causes. These scenarios gave way for cars to become more environment-friendly and fuel efficiency.

Electric cars originated from science fiction but have come into a reality. However, their practicability is usually problematic when it comes to mileage which made manufacturers to go on with a combustion engine that still needs fuel to run in different mix. The result is a hybrid?a mix of both electrically and engine driven cars that are controlled by the computer to yield the correct mixture of electricity and fossil fuel products which will make the engine efficient.

These new cars available in the market today are considered as hybrids in parallel or in series configuration. There are also other instances where both are employed. Most of these cars are efficient in fuel use and can comply with the standards laid down by environmental laws.

Each year, new car models that come out tend to increase their complexity in operation. There are now computers which control almost any electro-mechanical functions of the car. There are sensors which send data on the driver?s view that makes driving easier. Such car gauges show tire conditions, cabin control, and cruise control. These sensors are everywhere even on cheaper models.

The engine control unit (ECU) is a computer which makes use of 32-bit microprocessors that manage the collating of data from different sensors that monitor every aspect of the engine?s performance. It performs all the calculations to know the best spark timing, the fuel mix and how long should the fuel injector remain open. Aside from optimizing the engine?s performance, the ECU also ensure that you get the highest mileage but with the least emissions.

For SUVs, the operation can be more complex than other cars. What you can see on the dashboard is a computer panel that shows the data through LCD screens instead of the mechanical gauges. The sensors are also more complicated as they will tell you what doors are unlocked, the entertainment and the air cooling/heating system. The computers will also serve as a guide in which gear shifts and cruise controls should be used.

Basing on the fast trend of development in cars, we are expecting to see the intelligent car. These cars are very strict when it comes to security which includes keyless access, driver identification, as well as GPS monitoring and total shutdown once the car gets stolen.

The vehicle is the most used type of transportation for most people today, but often the driver of a vehicle is not well educated on the instrument cluster. Today’s vehicle computers have made the cluster very technologically advanced and full of helpful knowledge that could be helpful to the driver if they knew more about it.