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SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc. (Hons.) Technical Editor John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Ross Tester Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc Nicholas Vinen Photography Ross Tester Reader Services Ann Morris Advertising Enquiries Glyn Smith Phone (02) 9939 3295 Mobile 0431 792 293 glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst David Maddison B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Kevin Poulter Dave Thompson SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 003 205 490. ABN 49 003 205 490. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Offset Alpine, Lidcombe, NSW. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $105.00 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see our website or the subscriptions page in this issue. Editorial office: Unit 1, 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9939 3295. E-mail: silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 Recommended & maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip Publisher’s Letter Future electronic developments in cars Every month it seems there is some new development being introduced in cars to improve safety, efficiency or driveability. For example, many new cars now have adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, 360° camera view, automatic engine stop and restart and so on. Upmarket cars have head-up displays on their windscreen, some have auto reverse parking and many SUVs have rear cameras. But it also seems that at least some of the electronic developments are trivial, such as touch-screens to control the phone, music and air-conditioning, while often eliminating the CD player. And do you really need a car with multiple 12V and USB outlets, to go with the multiple cup holders? Overall, it seems as though at least some of the new features are just being added as marketing features, or they really only provide a fraction of what could easily be incorporated with the same hardware. For example, if a car has a rear camera, why isn’t there an integral recording feature to an SD card? That way, you would have a video recording of any rear-end collision. In fact, the car’s OBD system could add in the info for speed, brake and throttle settings. It also seems rather silly to see brand-new cars fitted with after-market dash cameras. Why aren’t such cameras already built-in? Some cars do have a forward-facing camera but no recording feature; that’s just silly. Or if a car has in-built GPS satnav, why doesn’t it give a readout of speed? Yes, in many cars there would be a discrepancy between the speedo which is often optimistic (under ADR specs) but the at same time the odometer is accurate. Why not the speedo too? And if some cars have lane departure warning, why don’t they have “lane keeping assist” as well? This is an easy manufacturing upgrade for all cars with electric steering. In fact, quite a few upmarket cars can be easily made to drive autonomously – check out the YouTube videos of this with a stream of Hyundai Genesis saloons. But there are other potential developments which seem to have well and truly stalled. For example, what about electric braking? Is the conventional powerassisted hydraulic system, tied to the ABS and traction control systems still the best way to go? It seems as though electric braking, with servo-controlled pistons on the disc brakes could potentially be superior. In fact, why not extend some of the present dynamic energy recovery used in some cars for auto-start and restart, to do virtually all the braking? More radically, do we even need the rear window on cars? Recent styling trends to smaller rear window glass have compromised rear vision anyway and if the rear window glass was totally eliminated, it would reduce solar heating of the car and the annoyances of cars with bright lights following too closely. In fact, rear vision cameras could eliminate internal and external rear vision mirrors. And whatever happened to the move to 42V systems? That makes even more sense today with the greatly increased load on car electrical systems and the weight reduction that is now possible with lithium batteries. A lithium battery and a 42V (or close) system seems like a natural fit. While all of this is going on, electric car sales are more or less going nowhere. This is only partly due to the current low price of fuel (which could easily change) but also relates to the lack of advantage of electric cars. Sure, you don’t have to visit the petrol station and the cost of fuel (electricity) is quite low but most of the few available electric cars have limited range and are quite expensive compared to their internal combustion engine-powered equivalents. Leo Simpson siliconchip.com.au