NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Auto engineers, racing to keep up with rapid computer innovation, are designing smartcars that can talk to smartphones.
To ensure that electronics, governing everything from navigation to braking, do not become obsolete in months, they are crafting vehicles flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen advances.
"Cars need to be upgraded -- over the air -- and they have to have smartphone connections now," Erik Goldman, president of Hughes Telematics, told The New York Times.
That means being able to draw diagnostic information from a car by a satellite link, or to reprogram a transmission controller or recalibrate braking while the car is parked at home, without a trip to the dealer.
Cisco has developed an experimental dashboard that consists of LCD panels instead of dials and buttons. It is one big touch screen where drivers can drag and drop instruments and information displays. It will
be able to accommodate yet-to-be-invented systems that could give vehicle-to-vehicle collision warnings or apprise drivers of dangerous intersections ahead.
As vehicles use more advanced computers to improve performance and fuel efficiency they need more sophisticated programming.
"The car is becoming the most sophisticated piece of computer equipment you own," said Dave Evans, Cisco's chief futurist.
