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Auto Industry's Fastest Processor Is 128Mhz
afabbro writes "GM stated that the 2011 Buick Regal will have the auto industry's fastest processor: 128Mhz, and 3MB of flash. 'Three meg of flash memory and 128MHz clock speed doesn't sound like a lot in terms of computing power until you consider the environment these controllers have to live in. Our controllers are made to operate reliably up to 260 degrees (127C) and down to -40 degrees (-40C) for the life of the vehicle.'"
128MHZ for a rugged CPU for automotive use is a good thing, but clock speed is just one of many factors. TFA was a tad light on information and worded as an ad (which is to be expected from GM's press website), but other than just mentioning vague details and the fact that Freescale made it, this doesn't really mean much without factoring in other details.
Will this mean the 2011 Regal will be leaps and bounds over the 2010? Yes. How much is debatable.
Will this matter in the total scheme of automotive technology? Not really. ECMs have been improving each year, so the 2011 Regal may have a bump in the control CPU's clock speed, but perhaps some other car maker would have a different architecture in place (multiple modules controlling different functions such as PATS/antitheft, O2 sensor, fuel sensor [1], etc.)
Will other car companies have improvements in their technology? Assuredly. Ford has some new engines going in the mainstream line of vehicles. Other vehicle makers may be bringing diesels to the US.
The big question in all of this: Is there a car example I can go on here?
[1]: I'm sure all cars in the US will eventually be going Flex-Fuel (talk about bumping gasoline from 10% to 15% is happening in some places here in the US), so having the circuitry in place to handle varying amounts of ethanol will be crucial.
128 MHz should be enough for every car.
rewriting history since 2109
-40F is equal to -40C
Your GPS unit is not an "automotive cpu"... It is a consumer product fitted into a car.
The automative processor is what controls your fuel injection, ABS and other such functions.
There is a world of difference between the two.
3 years or 25 000 miles...
His 1952 MG also crumples up like a soda can in an accident, whereas your Corolla is stuffed to the gills with crumple zones, traction-control gizmos, and eight thousand-odd computer-controlled airbags. On the other hand, it also weighs twice as much as the MG and handles like it, so good luck avoiding an accident that he could.
On the bright side, you probably don't have to keep a fire extinguisher in your car to put out the daily wiring harness fires.
Ex Honda Mechanic here(1982-1989). "Environment similar to mil spec, durability like industrial, prices like consumer products".
1984-86 Honda Accord/Accura igniter units(Fires the igntion coil at the right time), it was more like "Environment as in a home in winter, durability like a chinese small engine, and prices like a haliburtion supplied widget".
If i'd replaced 200 of these things. Yes, i am sure todays automotive embedded stuff is better but its been a long road.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
And how is the environment of a built-in GPS really significantly different from the ECU? [...] Perhaps it's not expected to be fail-safe...
But that's the whole point, isn't it? Your vehicle isn't a useless lump of metal and plastic if your GPS unit fails.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
"On the other hand, it also weighs twice as much as the MG and handles like it, so good luck avoiding an accident that he could."
The Corolla probably handles better. See this article about an autocross race between an 2003 Honda Odyssey, a 60's Porsche 356 and a 60's Jag XKE.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/soccer-moms-revenge/
ft
Three meg of flash memory and 128MHz clock speed doesn't sound like a lot in terms of computing power
Guess that depends on your point of view, a car travelling 360Km/Hr is travelling 100m/s, so in a millisecond travels 10cm or about 4 inches. Assuming one instruction per clock cycle you can do a lot of useful stuff with 128,000 instructions, or put another way probably about one million for every revolution of the wheel
3MB of FLASH is huge as well when you aren't loading a lot of crap like multimedia, not that it would run Linux but I just took a look at the last kernel I built for an embedded platform and it came in under 2MB with quite a generous set of modules loaded.
Summarising, a modern turbodiesel is inherently about 25% more efficient than an equally modern gasoline engine. With old and crude designs like, say, carb hemi V8s, the Diesel has more like a 2:1 advantage. The remaining 5% comes from the fuel.
Sheesh, kids today. Get off my lawn.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I've seen all kinds of cars and tractors start in temperatures getting near or below -40 degrees. Some times that meant the transmission got busted.
As a teenager in northern Canada, I learned that you need to warm up the transmission as well as the engine in extreme cold. A friend of my dad's forgot this lesson and and had to replace his car's automatic transmission.
In extreme cold, you can protect your transmission by putting it in neutral for a few minutes. This gets the transmission oil moving (and warming) without engaging more delicate mechanical parts. Do not leave an automatic transmission in "Park".
BTW - While several minutes of idling in neutral during EXTREME cold conditions are required to warm the transmission, 90 seconds of idling is all your engine needs. Any extra idling time is for only for the driver's comfort (i.e. warms up the cars interior )
-- "At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1" -- PC Magazine, Nov. 1994