The soulless driver behind today’s steering wheel

Growing up in the late 80s, one of my favourite TV series was the ‘Knight Rider’. Every child fancied Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff)’s talking car – Kitt. Besides the amusement caused by a talking and flying Car Diagnostic Tools, we had no idea what the whole drama was all about. But now, I see Hasselhoff as a dreamer whose prophecy about a computer-car synthesis has come to pass.

As cars have become more economical over the years, the degree of electronic optimisation of the engine and transmission has grown.

For example, in all the noise about cars being recalled, there is, mostly, no faulty mechanical component. All that’s necessary is a quick software update to recalibrate an electrically generated system. Which just goes to show how deeply computer control is embedded in today’s cars.

An interesting case is that of the Toyota Prius, which made headlines some months ago, after it was recalled due to a faulty braking system.

The Prius is such a famously economical car partly because of its regenerative braking system. When the driver touches the brake pedal, there is no mechanical link to the normal brake discs. In gentle braking, all that happens is the electric generator in the powertrain takes up the load, slowing the car.

Only when the driver brakes moderately hard, or when the battery is charged, do the electronics hand over the braking effort to the wheel discs. For this to occur smoothly, instantly and predictably is an extraordinarily complex piece of control technology.

But then, while they don’t have this type of “brake by wire”, all modern cars do have some electronics in the brakes. The anti-lock braking system (ABS) detects if a wheel has locked up, which causes a skid. ABS corrects this by over-riding the mechanical command from the pedal, easing the braking pressure on the affected wheel.

Back in the 1980s, ABS, along with electronically regulated fuel injection, was one of the first pieces of electronics in cars.

They used to be a selling point - now they’re standard by law. You can’t have modern exhaust emission control without fuel injection, and electronic control is nowadays cheaper and more effective than mechanical.

And on hybrid cars such as the Prius Benz repaire special service, all the driver does is press the throttle. The powertrain electronics module independently controls both the petrol engine and the electric motor.