Automotive control overview

The availability of low cost rugged microelectronics has enabled automotive control systems to rapidly advance from hydro-mechanical and simple electro-mechanical implementations to sophisticated computer based systems. These are usually developed as individual subsystems with limited interaction between sub-systems. The current challenge for the automotive control engineer is to address the problem of control systems integration. The possibilities for integrated control take two forms: 1) within the vehicle, the installation of a control area network; and 2) outside the vehicle, there is a need to integrate the action of individual vehicles within a road infrastructure