Automotive electronics

Automotive electronics are electronic systems used in vehicles, including engine management, ignition, radio, carputers, telematics, in-car entertainment systems, and others. Ignition, engine and transmission electronics are also found in trucks, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, and other internal combustion powered machinery such as forklifts, tractors and excavators. Related elements for control of relevant electrical systems are also found on hybrid vehicles and electric cars.

Electronic systems have become an increasingly large component of the cost of an automobile, from only around 1% of its value in 1950 to around 30% in 2010. Modern electric cars rely on power electronics for the main propulsion motor control, as well as managing the battery system. Future autonomous cars will rely on powerful computer systems, an array of sensors, networking, and satellite navigation, all of which will require electronics.

The earliest electronic systems available as factory installations were vacuum tube car radios, starting in the early 1930s. The development of semiconductors after World War II greatly expanded the use of electronics in automobiles, with solid-state diodes making the automotive alternator the standard after about 1960, and the first transistorized ignition systems appearing in 1963.

The emergence of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) technology led to the development of modern automotive electronics. The MOSFET was invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960, after Frosch and Derick discovered surface passivation by silicon dioxide and used their finding to create the first planar transistors, the first field effect transistors in which drain and source were adjacent at the same surface, later a team demonstrated a working MOS at Bell Labs. Dawon Kahng summarized in a Bell Labs memo the achievement: E. E. LaBate and E. I. Povilonis who fabricated the device; M. O. Thurston, L. A. D’Asaro, and J. R. Ligenza who developed the diffusion processes, and H. K. Gummel and R. Lindner who characterized the device. This led to the development of the power MOSFET by Hitachi in 1969, and the single-chip microprocessor by Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff, Masatoshi Shima and Stanley Mazor at Intel in 1971.

The development of MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chips and microprocessors made a range of automotive applications economically feasible in the 1970s. In 1971, Fairchild Semiconductor and RCA Laboratories proposed the use of MOS large-scale integration (LSI) chips for a wide range of automotive electronic applications, including a transmission control unit (TCU), adaptive cruise control (ACC), alternators, automatic headlight dimmers, electric fuel pumps, electronic fuel-injection, electronic ignition control, electronic tachometers, sequential turn signals, speed indicators, tire-pressure monitors, voltage regulators, windshield wiper control, Electronic Skid Prevention (ESP), and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).

In the early 1970s, the Japanese electronics industry began producing integrated circuits and microcontrollers for the Japanese automobile industry, used for in-car entertainment, automatic wipers, electronic locks, dashboard, and engine control. The Ford EEC (Electronic Engine Control) system, which utilized the Toshiba TLCS-12 PMOS microprocessor, went into mass production in 1975. In 1978, the Cadillac Seville featured a "trip computer" based on a 6802 microprocessor. Electronically-controlled ignition and fuel injection systems allowed automotive designers to achieve vehicles meeting requirements for fuel economy and lower emissions, while still maintaining high levels of performance and convenience for drivers. Today's automobiles contain a dozen or more processors, in functions such as engine management, transmission control, climate control, antilock braking, passive safety systems, navigation, and other functions.

The power MOSFET and the microcontroller, a type of single-chip microcomputer, led to significant advances in electric vehicle technology. MOSFET power converters allowed operation at much higher switching frequencies, made it easier to drive, reduced power losses, and significantly reduced prices, while single-chip microcontrollers could manage all aspects of the drive control and had the capacity for battery management. MOSFETs are used in vehicles such as automobiles, cars, trucks, electric vehicles, and smart cars. MOSFETs are used for the electronic control unit (ECU), while the power MOSFET and IGBT are used as the load drivers for automotive loads such as motors, solenoids, ignition coils, relays, heaters and lamps. In 2000, the average mid-range passenger vehicle had an estimated $100–200 of power semiconductor content, increasing by a potential 3–5 times for electric and hybrid vehicles. As of 2017^[update], the average vehicle has over 50 actuators, typically controlled by power MOSFETs or other power semiconductor devices.

Another important technology that enabled modern highway-capable electric cars is the lithium-ion battery. It was invented by John Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino in the 1980s, and commercialized by Sony and Asahi Kasei in 1991. The lithium-ion battery was responsible for the development of electric vehicles capable of long-distance travel, by the 2000s.