For the past couple weeks my brother has been looking at new cars. Since he wrecked his Volvo he’s been coming into work with lists of cars. As we’ve been filtering the lists I’ve noticed most of the cars in his stack have some type of computerized user interface.
When I started driving I was lucky to have an AM radio. My 1968 Chevy pickup had a factory AM radio and one speaker. That old truck never gave me any issues and the AM radio picked up all the talk stations in the area. I’m not sure there was enough wire in the cabin to add a computer.
Many of today’s cars come equipped with touchscreen user interfaces. Subaru WRX screens display g-force data, Toyota’s Prius displays all the information about the car including battery usage, and Ford vehicles use a modified Microsoft interface.
Before touchscreen technology became inexpensive, cars had the basics. Each car had a dedicated cluster for heat/AC, radio and all the auxiliary stuff. As electronics became more prevalent manufacturers started combining the clusters and created a control pod. Now, with the advent of touchscreen, almost all components are controlled through a computer.
If you stop and think about it, combining all aspects of a vehicle’s function through a centralized computer makes sense. Since the 1970’s manufacturers have been controlling engine functions through a centralized computer. Modern cars use computers for everything including headlamp control, assisted parking, braking and accelerating.
There seems to be different ends of the computer controlled spectrum. On one end are cars with minimal control through the touchscreen. Usually these control the radio and heat functions as well as a GPS system. Rarely do the lower end screens interface with the engine’s computer.
On the other end of the spectrum are those cars that monitor everything and allow modest control of the car through the touchscreen. Subaru’s WRX is a great example of a computer that monitors everything. In addition to all the standard heat, radio and GPS functions, the WRX touchscreen also monitors cornering, acceleration and engine function (just to name a few).
Toyota took a lot of criticism for its computer interface. Higher end versions of this car come equipped with automatic parallel parking and a lane guidance system that monitors the car’s lane position. All of these functions take control of steering, acceleration and braking.
Critics of the Prius proved it would be easy to hack the computer system and take over the car. In a YouTube demonstration programmers succeeded in taking control from the driver. Google is taking this one step further and using the features I just described to make a self driving car. Of course, Google’s use of this feature still proves the car can be modified.
I guess I won’t be unlike generations before me when I ask, “what’s next?” People asked that when DVD players came around, air conditioning was introduced and extra cigarette lighters were put in back seats. Manufacturers will be forever evolving the functionality of vehicles and designing for the next space age.
I can’t see how technology will evolve much more than it is currently. My expectation is that all controls will become smaller and they will eventually be combined into one unit. Rather than bring a car to the garage to be diagnosed, it will be a simple matter of pushing a few buttons and the car will self diagnose; provided of course that the computer doesn’t fail.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)