Car and Driver - USA (2020-04)

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38 APRIL 2020 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

Computer

Chips

duction realities for decades. Any

of those systems could be built at

the time, RCA engineer Elvet Moore

told the magazine. “The problem

to be solved is producing it cheaply

enough to satisfy the carmakers.”

That open-ended problem—

how cheap is cheap enough?—has

propelled the development of com-

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decades. Moore’s Law (named for

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore,

no relation to Elvet) neatly captures

that steady march of progress: The

number of transistors on a com-

puter chip doubles roughly every

two years. Its close corollary is that

computing power becomes cheaper

over time.

The microprocessors and chips

that power modern vehicles are now

so prevalent that they’re practically

a commodity in the same vein as

steel and aluminum. Computers are used in everything

from the mundane (such as basic trip computers) to the

near magical (think road-scanning active suspensions).

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and more reliable—better in every way. And while indi-

vidual chips may be cheap these days, the computer’s

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single car. Electronics are responsible for 40 percent of

a new car’s total cost, according to a Deloitte analysis.

That’s up from 18 percent in 2000.

Computing technolog y has also fundamentally

altered the processes of automotive design, engineer-

ing, and manufacturing. Digital tools empower engi-

neers to turn out cars faster, with greater precision and

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tolerances, virtual environments simulate a lifetime of

testing in a matter of days, and assembly lines spit out

cars as though they were die-cast models.

But the unyielding pace of computing progress may

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components measured in nanometers run into physical

limits. “I see Moore’s Law dying here in the next decade

or so,” he said. Don’t mistake that statement to mean all

progress stops, though. Computers have been disrupt-

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reality to end anytime soon.

The nerds knew what they were onto at the dawn of the mod-
ern computing age. As silicon chips multiplied in power,
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computers through the 1960s, engineers could already see
Wb`aU\dSNN[QdVQRaURaRPU[\Y\Tfd\bYQ]_RNQV[a\\b_ workplaces, homes, and cars. AURf R[cVV[RQ RYRPa_[VP SbRY V[WRPaV[ N[Q VT[VaV[
timing as the new normal. They anticipated the widespread
adoption of anti-lock-braking systems and oxygen sensors.
And then they peered beyond the obvious and immedi-
ate. Surveying the experts, a 1971 issue of Popular Science
predicted these new chips would democratize drowsiness
detectors, auto-dimming high-beams, and selectively shut-
tered headlights—ideas that wouldn’t become mass-pro-

The

Cost

Electronics
are respon-
sible for a
steadily rising
percentage of
a new car’s
total cost,
according to
Deloitte.

18

27

45

40

NO TECHNOLOGY HAS SO CONSISTENTLY AND

DRAMATICALLY REBOOTED THE CAR AS THE

COMPUTER CHIP. BY ERIC TINGWALL