Abstract
The dramatic advancement of IC technologies makes electronic devices be smaller and run faster, so they are able to implement more functions in a limited space. The car electronics play an increasingly important role in automobile industry, and the embedded system has already been extensively employed for improving the operation and performance of vehicles, such as safety, comfort, convenience, and energy consumption. In terms of electronic system, an automobile is a distributed embedded system, and the control messages to each electronic control unit (ECU), go through in-vehicle networks. An ECU is a computing system, integrated with a data acquisition module or an electromechanical driver. A variety of ECUs implement versatile functions, such as powertrain, antilock braking system (ABS), traction control system (TCS), adaptive cruise control (ACC), and electronic stability program (ESP), etc. Sensors provide measurements of specific vehicle parameters in a format suitable for the digital microcontroller, while actuators are electrically operated devices that drive electromechanical components. Human machine interface is the input and output of vehicle operations to users.
Top4.2 Safety, Comfort And Convenience
Vehicles were developed for transportation. When vehicles become mandatory transportation tools in daily life, safety is the first issue. Road safety is related to the loss of human life and property and can be categorized into three areas: human, environment, and vehicle. Human and environment factors are out of the scope, and we will focus only on the vehicle. However, the enhancement for vehicle safety can sometimes compensate the inappropriate operation caused by human or environmental factors. Vehicle safety can be further separated into active safety and passive safety (Robert Bosch, 2006). The active safety mechanism is to prevent the happening of potential accidents, while passive safety is to help drivers and passengers lower injury or death rates by accidents. Figure 1 shows the different categories of road safety, and goals for active safety and passive safety.