I probally sound like a dummy for asking, but what, if any, is the advantage of drive by wire/electronic accelerator/whatever pedals? cuhulin, the dummy
- posted
14 years ago
I probally sound like a dummy for asking, but what, if any, is the advantage of drive by wire/electronic accelerator/whatever pedals? cuhulin, the dummy
If you let the computer control the throttle you can improve gas mileage and reduce emissions.
And you don't have to route any mechanical linkages.
As an embedded software engineer, I have to say that the family of phrases that goes "(any verb) by wire" scares me silly. Drive by wire, fly by wire, sail by wire, shoot by wire, surgery by wire, whatever -- they're all scary. Why? Because I know just how hard it is for a team to write decent software and how easy it is for any member of the team, from the lowliest grunt engineer to the company CEU, to totally screw the process. As soon as one guy anywhere in the chain decides that he's manly and paying attention to detail is for weenies -- poof! there goes your reliability.
Cruise control can be added to the vehicle with only software.
Oddly enough, diesels have been throttle by wire for quite some time, but I haven't heard of a single case of "unintended acceleration" in any diesel trucks. This seems to bolster the operator error argument.
The ones I have seen on recent school buses have been 'drive by air', it basically is an air powered system and if the compressor fails, the brakes turn on and the throttle closes automatically.
Chris
Along with stability/traction control functions, and probably other things I can't think of right now.
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