Modern-day cars are packed full of sensors, microprocessors and different electronic control units (ECUs), which take care of different aspects of the car, including locking systems, automatic braking and monitoring engine efficiency. If you’ve ever seen the check-engine light flash on your dashboard, that’s the result of small sensors in the engine’s ECU alerting you to a change in one of the qualities it monitors, such as temperature or oxygen levels. Together, the ECUs create the car’s computer ‘brain’, all connected through a communication ‘nervous system’ called a controller area network (CAN). The CAN relays information gathered from up to 100 different sensors around the vehicle to each ECU so that the vehicle works in harmony.
One of the first ECUs emerged in the 1960s from German car manufacturer Volkswagen when it released the Type 3, the first car to host a computer-controlled electronic fuel injection (EFI). The EFI controlled the mixture of air and fuel in the car’s injection system to prove fuel consumption efficiency and improve the quality of its emissions. Over the decades, more and more ECUs have been added into the world’s cars to transform the way we drive. For example, what was once a direct connection between the foot pedal of
the accelerator and an internal combustion engine was replaced in 1998 to include an electrical go-between. In the Volvo 280, this severed the link between the pedal and the engine and bridged the connection with a computer. When the pedal is pushed, it generates an electrical signal to the computer that opens the throttle of the car’s engine. Within the last 20 years, manufacturers have completely transformed what a car is capable of. From built-in AI assistants to driverless vehicles, the new age of all-electric cars is reliant on onboard computers to function.