WEBVTT - How Cars Became Computerized 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.160 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.360 And how the tech are you? I am back from vacation, 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.560 UH and originally I wanted to do something related to 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:31.120 Pie Day because March fourteen, three fourteen, that's Pie Day, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.440 and UH. I had hoped to do an episode about 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:38.400 the equipment used to mass produce pies. But it's a 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.920 strange thing, hard to find a lot of information on that. 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:43.640 So that's gonna have to wait till next year because 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.200 I need to get enough info to do a good episode, 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:50.239 and I just couldn't scramble up enough for for today's. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:51.960 But I do have something else I want to talk 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:56.040 about this very timely. The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage and 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:00.360 its effect on multiple industries really sparked today's EPI swed 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.479 that's a pun. So once upon a time, automobiles were 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:09.080 pretty much just a pure representation of mechanical engineering. So 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.280 if you were mechanically inclined and you add access to 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.440 the right tools, you could perform many or practically all 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.800 repair jobs on a car just by yourself. You can 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.839 take on huge projects like rebuilding an engine, and if 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.800 something went wrong with your car, then you could potentially 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.640 diagnose the problem yourself, identify the solution, which might include 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.840 getting a new part, and then see it through maybe 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.199 even install that new part. Gear Heads could spend hours or, 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:41.880 in the case of one neighbor that I knew back 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.520 when I was a kid, years working on a project 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.640 car to get to perform just the way they wanted 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.880 it to. But over time our cars have become far 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:56.600 more advanced, and now today cars have computer chips inside them, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:01.560 lots of computer chips. And I've seen different give different, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.040 very large numbers thrown around to say how many your 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.400 typical car has, But I'm going to go on the 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:12.280 conservative side. So a an internal combustion engine vehicle, you know, 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.400 gas or diesel powered car might have around a thousand 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.280 or more computer chips in it, and an electric car 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:24.359 would likely have twice as many. Now that means that 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.560 fixing a car today isn't as simple as getting out 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.680 a wrench and putting in some elbow grease, don't forget 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.400 the headlight fluid. But these days you might need some 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.440 specialized equipment just to identify any issues that are going on, 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.960 and if the problem happens to be a faulty chip, 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:44.680 then you're likely going to have to seek out expert 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.080 help to replace that kind of stuff. It's not the 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.320 sort of thing that you can just, you know, spend 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.080 us after Saturday afternoon in the garage tinkering around and fixing. 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.080 The computer chips have made our cars far more advanced 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.359 than they used to be, with features that range from 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:04.000 safety measures that can potentially prevent accidents, to advanced entertainment 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:08.079 features and lots more besides. However, it also means that 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.400 it has become increasingly challenging to maintain and repair one's 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.320 own car. Plus, as we have seen in the wake 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.200 of the semiconductor chip shortage and the supply chain issues 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.040 around the world, it also means that car manufacturers hit 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.919 essentially a roadblock pun intended when those precious computer chips 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.320 are in short supply, and that in turn affects us 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.200 as the customers. You know, if I don't know if 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.640 you've been car shopping over the last two years, but 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.080 it's pretty grim. Even in the used car market. Prices 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:43.800 are pretty high, and in fact, we've already seen this 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.440 play out in the automotive world, as some car manufacturers 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.320 have had to roll back on certain features just to 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.160 get cars out to dealerships. For example, Ford is sending 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.280 car dealerships some Ford Explorers that lack the microchips that 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.120 would otherwise power the rear seat air conditioning and heating controls, 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.800 and that means folks are writing in the back of 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.240 those Ford Explorers will no longer be able to set 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.240 their own climate control settings with those new cars, at 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.960 least not initially. Ford hopes to send out those chips 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.720 to dealerships within another year, which means that the people 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.799 who purchased those Ford Explorers will then have to return 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.240 to a dealership in order to get the chips installed 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:27.920 in their vehicles to get that feature activated. Essentially, that's inconvenient, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.640 But on the flip side, if Ford didn't do this, 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.400 then it wouldn't be able to bring Ford Explorers to 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:39.240 dealerships at nearly the same rate. So with shortages in 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.440 dealerships as it stands, and with the subsequent price hikes 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.240 in all sorts of cars, there's a real need to 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.120 get more cars out to potential customers. Also, it allows 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.680 Ford to move partially built vehicles out of its factories 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.479 where otherwise they're just taking up valuable space. Like that 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.800 was something I didn't really think about before. But yeah, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:04.520 they're all these cars that are mostly built but still 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:10.000 are lacking certain semiconductor chips for certain systems, and those 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.440 cars are you know, their their physical things. They take 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.520 up space and you only have so much room to 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:19.480 hold stuff before you start really backing up. So it's 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.480 a necessity for all along the supply chain. Other car 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.760 companies have seen similar setbacks. It's not just Ford test 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.760 Lea's old some electric cars without USB ports for charging electronics. 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.599 Cadillac had to ship two Escalades without without the hands 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:40.320 free driving option that was just deactivated. BMW got rid 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:42.960 of some touch screens and some of its luxury vehicles. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.440 GM gutted some of its pickup truck models and removed 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.359 systems that did everything from wireless charging UH to a 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.719 fuel management system that would make trucks more fuel efficient. 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:55.640 All of that had to be kind of put off 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.279 to the side because there's just there wasn't the inventory 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.640 too enabled those options. So I thought it might be 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.440 interesting to kind of look back on the history of 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:09.760 electronic systems and computer chips in cars. What got that 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.200 all started in the first place. Now, in the very 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.159 early days of automobiles, there was no such thing as 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.159 a semiconductor chip. The history of semiconductors, you could argue, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.760 could be traced all the way back to the eighteen seventies, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.159 but there was no such thing as a semiconductor chip 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.520 in the early days of automobiles. In fact, for the 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:32.560 first few decades, there's no way to incorporate small, efficient 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.800 electronics to manage systems because in the electronic space you 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.679 still had people using stuff like vacuum tubes that would 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:45.680 serve as diodes and amplifiers. Now, vacuum tubes are big, 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.560 they're bulky, they give off a lot of heat, they're 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.279 kind of like light bulbs, so they're also breakable. So 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.400 that's that you couldn't really easily incorporate them into car 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.960 systems in a way that would make sense. But by 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.440 the late nineteen four thease you had some smarty pants 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:07.320 folks over at Bell Laboratories inventing transistors. Now the transistors 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:12.000 used semiconductor material to fulfill the same basic functions as 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.400 vacuum tubes. Semiconductor really just means it's a material that 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.360 can act either as a conductor that is, something that 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:22.040 allows electricity to flow through it, or an insulator something 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.520 that prevents electricity from flowing through it. Semiconductors can act 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.920 as either. It all depends upon how you layer them. 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.200 But I've done full episodes about semi connectors, so we're 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.240 not going to go into detail here now. The early 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.520 transistors that were developed out of Bell Laboratories were more 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.560 proof of concept type of technologies. They were not practical 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.680 for implementation. You would not be able to use them 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.160 for anything practical because they were big and bulky and 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.320 very delicate. But we were off to the races soon 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.680 enough once the principle was proven and people understood how 0:07:54.680 --> 0:08:00.240 it worked. Transistors allowed engineers to miniaturize circuit elements in 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.240 a way that just wasn't possible before. In fact, in 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.760 nineteen fifty nine we got the first integrated circuit that 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.080 came out of Texas Instruments, and the integrated circuit used 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.400 a semiconductor substrate so that all the elements of a 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.320 circuit could be printed directly onto that substrate, so there 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.160 was no need for you know, tons of wires connecting 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.600 different discrete components. Together to make a circuit, and that 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.320 meant that engineers could make electronics at a fraction of 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.000 the size of their predecessors. So devices like radios and 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.599 televisions went from being these huge pieces of furniture to 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:38.840 much more compact gadgets like pocket sized in the in 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:43.560 the case of radios. Now, while the transistor debuted in 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.959 the late nineteen forties, it wouldn't be until the late 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.839 nineteen sixties that we would see production cars incorporate transistors 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.559 in them to control a particular system. And that system 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.200 at that time was fuel injection. So we should probably 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.760 talk about what that means and and how we got there. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.320 So to do that, we need to talk about the 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:07.400 basic principles behind internal combustion engine cars. And this is 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.320 going to be very very high level because I've talked 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.480 about this in previous episodes too, so I'm sure we 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:18.000 all know that internal combustion engine cars burn fuel to 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.080 produce the energy they need to make the car go. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.040 But what is actually going on here, Well, in the 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:30.320 engine you have cylinders. These are the combustion chambers, and 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.480 they're essentially you know, just that they're little explosion chambers. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.280 You could think of, uh, in that term. And this 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.120 is where you get a mixture of fuel and air 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.760 injected into the cylinder, uh, and that mixture gets compressed 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.960 by a piston, and a spark from a spark plug 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.720 then ignites that compressed mixture of air and fuel or 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.080 gas or diesel in some cases, that causes a small explosion, 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.520 and the force of that explosion pushes the piston outward 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.480 through the cylinder, like, not completely out, but out to 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.720 the other end of the cylinder. That piston is connected 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.600 to a crank shaft via a piston rod, and that 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.440 means that the force from these little explosions inside the 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:17.760 cylinders transfer to the crank shaft, which then turns as 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.160 a result, and that crankshaft provides the force for the 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.400 drive train of the car, and ultimately that causes the 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.320 car's wheels to turn, assuming, of course, we're talking about 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.920 an internal combustion engine vehicle here. Now that's the super 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.680 duper simplified version. I didn't talk about transmissions or anything 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.840 like that, so a lot more goes into it. But um, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.960 you know, we can also talk about the various cycles 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:44.640 or strokes that happened in a cylinder intake and exhaust 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:46.760 and all that kind of stuff, But I think you 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.000 get the general idea. Gas and air go into the cylinder, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.720 sparking knights the mixture. The explosion inside the cylinder drives 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.600 the crank shaft to turn, and this happens over and 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.840 over again as your car merrily putters down the interstate 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.440 or whatever. Now I'm sure we also know all about 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.920 the fire triangle, right then, In order to have fire, 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.440 you know, combustion in other words, we need fuel, we 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.400 need an oxidizer, and we need heat. So in the 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.280 case with gas powered cars, the fuel is the gas, 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.680 and the oxidizer is air, which has oxygen in it, 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.480 and the heat comes from a spark generated by a 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.080 spark plug. But while you need these three things to 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.880 make fire, the precise mixture of fuel to air is 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.200 something that we can play around with in order to 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.760 make the most efficient fire, you know, or the hottest fire. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.800 And you probably know that fires in high oxygen environments 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.120 tend to be super dangerous, like you don't want to 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.440 have it happened on say a spacecraft, for example. So 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.720 if you could tweak the mix of air and fuel 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.680 so that you have just the right mixture, you could 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:58.080 theoretically boost vehicle performance, and that performance might manifest as 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.400 more power, or might mean that the vehicle is more 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:06.120 fuel efficient or both. Now, in the olden days, cars 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.880 had a device called a carburetor, and the way these 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.679 things work is pretty darn and genious. Uh. They make 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.679 use of a structure called a venturi. And essentially a 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.480 venturi is a pathway. So just think of like a 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.760 pipe and that this pipe narrows at one point and 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.440 then widens out again. And so when fluid flows through 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.880 a venturi and it starts to encounter that narrow section, 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:34.359 the static pressure within the tube decreases. This creates a vacuum. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.400 So if you have air, which is a fluid, flowing 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.800 through a venturi as it passes that narrow section, it 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.040 creates this area of low pressure. So if you were 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.160 to connect a line with fuel in it to this venturi, 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.640 that low pressure would kind of act the same way 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:51.800 we do when we use a straw to drink from 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.080 a sody pop or whatever. The low pressure draws up 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.520 the fuel which then can mix with the air in 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.000 the venturi and then head on to some other element, 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.840 in this case, the cylinders and an internal combustion engine. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.880 Now there's a lot more to carburetors than that, but 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:09.839 I'll have to do a full episode on that at 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.880 some point. Anyway, you can adjust carburetors with stuff like 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.400 a choke, which refers to how much air you're allowing 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.400 to pass through the system. So if you close the choke, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.439 then you have essentially shut off the air and it's 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.960 gonna make the engine die because there won't be any 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.040 air to mix with fuel and you won't be able 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:31.120 to have ignition anymore. Now, that's not a precise way 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.440 to control the mixture of air and fuel going to 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.200 an engine. And you know, if you were driving a 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.600 very old car, it often meant that you actually would 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.000 have to manually adjust the choke on the engine several 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.559 times as you were going through different you know, speeds 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.760 and everything, just so that you can make sure that 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.560 the engine was firing smoothly and that you had a 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.840 good smooth ride. Obviously, in later days, all that was 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.440 smoothed out quite a bit. You didn't have to, you know, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.160 ride the choke as it were. Also, if your car 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.800 has more than one cylinder, and once you get past 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.360 the earliest cars, they pretty much all did well a 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.160 carburetor wasn't the best way to get fuel and air 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.600 to those cylinders because the cylinders weren't getting the same 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.000 mixture of air and fuel due to being different distances 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.280 from the carburetor. Right, So, like a cylinder that was 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.680 further away from the carburetor was getting probably a little 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.440 less fuel than the ones that were closer. So a cylinder, 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:25.960 you know, you wanted to you wanted to have all 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.680 the same amounts that you would have the smooth operation 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.200 of your vehicle, but it just wasn't easy to do 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.240 with the carburetor based system. Uh, some vehicles would actually 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.880 have twin carburetors which would be paired to different cylinders 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.840 to reduce this, but then that required frequent tuneups to 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.479 make sure that the two pair, that the two carburetors 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.720 were working well together so that you had this smooth 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:53.560 engine operation. Fuel injection would change all that, but we'll 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.840 talk about that more after we come back from this 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:06.960 quick break. Okay, So, fuel injection systems, they use essentially 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.520 a nozzle that sprays fuel as like a very fine 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.400 missed into a flow of air, and some cars use 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.320 a single nozzle for all the cylinders, and so it 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.880 provides the source of fuel to all cylinders and an engine. Effect. 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:25.040 A lot of cars use this. Uh, some vehicles actually 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.040 have an injector for every cylinder, or they might use 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.600 a single injector for a pair of cylinders. So if 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.600 it's like a four cylinder engine, you might have to 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:39.160 fuel injectors, but the principle remains the same. The injector 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.280 shoots out a fine mist of fuel which then mixes 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.920 with air and that then goes on to the combustion 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:49.280 chamber a k a. The cylinders. Now, the first fuel 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.640 injection systems were mechanical in nature. That meant that they 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.680 used actual mechanical operations of the vehicle to work. There 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.280 were no electronic components to them. But in the late 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.120 nineteen five d s, a company called Bendix developed an 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.080 electronic fuel injection system. Now, Bendix was a company that 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:11.560 made parts that car manufacturers would then incorporate into their vehicles. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.800 So Bendix typically made stuff like brake pads and that 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.960 kind of thing, and then car manufacturers would order those 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.360 from Bendix and then put them into their cars. So 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:23.920 in the mid to late nineteen fifties, Bendix developed a 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.720 fuel injection system that used transistors to control the system 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.520 itself so that it would inject the right mix of 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.240 fuel and air at the right time in the cylinder cycle. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.040 Is to make it as efficient as possible, and this 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.480 was intended to be an upgrade option on a vehicle 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.080 called the Rambler Rebel, which came out of American Motors 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.640 Corporation or a mc UH. There was also supposed to 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.040 be included in a few Chrysler cars, and Bendix called 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:58.160 this the electrojector I guess for injector. There was really 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.880 just one issue. It didn't work so well. In fact, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.520 it caused so many problems and was so difficult to 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:09.359 install and to tune that both AMC and Chrysler abandoned it. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.720 Chrysler actually built a few production vehicles fewer than three dozen, 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:19.280 I think, using this system, but then ended up retrofitting 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.080 all of those with carburetors and you know, just essentially 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.480 ripped out the fuel injection systems because they were causing 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:30.159 so many problems. So we almost got the first transistorized 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.240 electronic system in a car as early as around n seven, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.359 but in truth it would take another decade to work 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.159 out all the kinks, and it was a German company 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.919 that did it. Bosch, refined the approach and produced an 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:49.360 electronic fuel injection system that that company called jet Tronic. Man, 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.440 you getta love the fifties and sixties and their their 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.320 ip names. So the first car manufacturer to use the 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.040 jetronic system was Volkswagen, which incorporated the Jetronic into the 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:06.200 company's Type three fast Back and square Back nine models. 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.359 So this wasn't the Volkswagen bug. You should look at 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.679 pictures of the fast back and square back if you 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:16.359 are unfamiliar with what those look like. Now, this electronic 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.600 system was a big leap forward for the car industry, 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.560 but you probably wouldn't call it a computer chip. Still, 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.160 it was a move toward using electronics and then later 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:30.160 computers to control specific functions in the car in order 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:35.479 to improve performance and efficiency. The unintended consequence was, of course, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.440 that should something go wrong with the electronics, it became 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:41.960 a lot more challenging for the average car owner to 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:46.920 do their own maintenance and repairs. Now, if you're really cynical, 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.639 you could argue that maybe that consequence wasn't so unintended 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.680 because that move would end up having a huge benefit 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:59.720 to car dealerships down the road pun intended because if 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.440 you have no option but to seek out repairs from 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.520 an authorized dealer of a specific car, make well, then 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.240 what you got there is a closed ecosystem and a 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:14.000 guaranteed revenue stream for the dealership. Right. But I would 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.760 like to think that at least early on, that wasn't 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.639 a huge factor that went into the development of electronic 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.600 car systems. It definitely feels that way now, like it 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.679 feels like it falls into that realm of things like 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.159 planned obsolescence and and making sure people have to go 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.280 through a specific channel in order to get any repairs done. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:40.040 It's one of the big uh foundational points in the 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.719 right to repair movement. It's it's something that that that 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:47.080 movement opposes because it locks customers into a closed system 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:49.800 and gives the customer and no other options when it 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.960 comes to maintenance and repair. But that's another matter. Anyway, 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.080 back to our history of the computerization of cars. Up 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.160 until the early nineteen seventies, the main focus on car 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:06.000 performance wasn't so much on fuel efficiency, but rather on 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.560 performance and power. Fuel was considered to be plentiful, and 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.920 you know, car pollution was definitely a thing that concerned 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.639 some folks, but it hadn't reached a point where governments 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.000 were really stepping in in a big way. Uh. Fun fact, 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.720 I looked to see when smog first became a real 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.880 issue in Los Angeles, a city that became famous for smog, 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.119 and it turns out that it was first really considered 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.560 a major issue as early as nineteen forty three. Now, 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.399 at that point, the general belief was that the smog 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:44.160 was largely the result of pollution belching factories and production plants, which, 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.880 don't get me wrong, We're certainly contributing to the problem. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:53.000 But the weird thing was that even as you know, 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.119 the state of California was passing restrictions and regulations on 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.240 companies that would cut way back on those emissions, they 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:02.760 still had a smog problem. And it wasn't until the 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.840 nineteen fifties that folks started to connect that to the 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.840 fact that cars also amant a lot of pollution. So 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.440 I don't mean to say that cars are the one 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.440 and only source of air pollution, that is not what 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.560 I'm saying, but they are a significant source. Um. So 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.840 that was something that really wasn't evident until the nineteen fifties. Anyway, 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:29.679 my point is that car manufacturers didn't really have a 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:33.320 huge incentive to focus on systems to improve fuel efficiency 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:38.200 up through the nineteen sixties. But some you know, air 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:43.640 cleanliness regulations, emissions restrictions as well as the oil crisis 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:47.760 of the early nineteen seventies would change things dramatically. At 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.119 that point, you then had regions like California creating tighter 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:55.400 emissions standards to cut back on air pollution. And California 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.520 is the most populated state in the US UH these days, 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.560 it has ten million more people than Texas, which is 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.080 in second place. So you know, if you're a car manufacturer, 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.280 you couldn't just right off California, right That's that's a 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.280 huge market. So the car manufacturers had to adapt and 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.960 create vehicles that met California's stricter standards, and then other 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:22.560 states and the federal government would follow California's lead, and 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:26.080 that really necessitated a change in focus and to make 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:30.960 sure that cars became more efficient and admitted less pollution. 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:36.000 Those changes pushed electronic systems forward in the automotive industry. 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:40.159 With electronics, car companies could boost efficiency and reduce waste 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.160 and pollution, and customers could benefit from this as well, 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.280 they could purchase vehicles that had better mileage, so you 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:50.040 didn't have to refill the tank quite so frequently. And 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:54.560 during an era of fuel shortages, that really became important. 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:56.960 I mean, this was the same era that saw the 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.399 rise of things like the compact and subcompact ours in 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:06.320 the United States, because suddenly fuel efficiency became more important 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:11.760 than performance. So necessity really drove innovation at this point. Now, 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:15.280 in addition to fuel injection, an early system that received 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:18.959 the electronic overhaul was the ignition system. Now, as that 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:22.880 name indicates, the ignition system's purpose is to provide the 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.280 ignition or spark that ignites the mixture of fuel and 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:31.399 air in the combustion chamber. So you have one electronic 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:35.399 system that's controlling the injection process, so it's mixing the 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:39.560 fuel and air together and timing those injections into the 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:44.359 combustion chamber precisely. Then you had another system that would 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:49.879 have very precise timing for igniting that mixture to get 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:53.560 the maximum amount of out of it and to use 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:57.040 you know, to use the maximum efficiency of fuel use. 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:00.040 Uh So, yeah, igniting at just the right point the 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:05.000 process gives the optimal amount of output. Also, even up 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:07.639 through the early nineteen eighties, a lot of cars that 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:10.600 were being sold we're still relying on carburetors rather than 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:14.440