Posted on 04/12/2005 3:11:22 AM PDT by infocats
IBM has begun to promote a technology suite that could one day let cars solve their own problems.
The Parametric Analysis Center essentially creates an environment where data from a car's electric systems feeds into a central processing unit, called a Telematics Control Unit. The TCU then alerts a driver or a dealer when a potential malfunction--high heat emanating from particular components, a leak in a gasket--has begun, thereby giving them a chance to nip the problem in the bud.
"We can make a large impact in the warranty process," said Nathaniel Mills, a senior technical staff member at IBM Research. "The Telematics Control Unit is an objective observer."
With the TCU information, dealers could order a part in advance of a repair appointment, for instance, or inform a driver that the gas leak is actually being caused by a loose gas cap rather than by a more dangerous crack in the fuel tank.
The diagnostic data is also collected and analyzed to give auto manufacturers a better understanding of equipment failures, wear and tear and other problems, Mills said.
Data about wear and tear and operations can also be pulled out of a car without a TCU by having a dealer plug into the data port, a common feature of new cars. These cars won't alert the dealer automatically, but the data, on periodic checks, can provide information about potential malfunctions.
The car, like pretty much everything else, is becoming an electronic device. Radar and camera systems that provide drivers with information about cars in their blind spot will likely roll out in the next few years..
In subsequent years, electronics are expected to increasingly take over many driving functions (such as determining when it's safe to switch lanes) and even control traffic flow.
IBM recently completed a pilot test of the technology with the U.S. Army's National Automotive Center and an unnamed automaker and now plans to promote it to other car manufacturers, Mills said.
well shit howdy!...then it can change a flat tire in the pouring rain?
Well, Mr. cats, I see from the readout that your car has exceeded 80 MPH at least four times. You know of course that voids the warranty...
I can just see it now: The cars that use the Windows O/S will crash all by themselves, or will be infested with spyware.
L.O.L....spyware will take you to Denver when you wanted to go to Omaha....
I can hear the car now.
Mommy, I'm sick and can't go to work today.....and then being a blond, I'd look it in the headlights, tell it that your headlights say you are fibbing, turn the key and take the lazy, little fibber to work.
Cut the garbage, I want to drive may car....I don't want some damn computer doing it.
And who will have access to the diagnostic codes? Just the dealer, or will anyone who wants to fix his/her own car be able to find out what the codes mean?
If IBM would spend its time getting my PC to diagnose itself successfully, then maybe I'd trust them with my car.
Look in the add section of most auto mags. and you can get allkinds of plug in electronics to jazz up performance. no problem to find out what is on your auto computer.
DC uses it as test for pollution. Won't use their equipment to rest it. Most states wait until 96 for most cars. So DC gets false reads and just causes hassle.
It saves the inspectors time, and de-skills the process. In DC, the second has real merit.
So don't ask if any new software will be used for other purposes and written into regulation. It will.
Computers and diagnostic codes have been around for almost 20 years, when fuel injected engines started taking over. And their initial function was to meet emissions regulations. All this requires sensors, which increases complexity and sensors do go bad. Car companies that produce junk will still produce junk.
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