MICROPROCESSOR: IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT?
Ronald K. Jurgen · IEEE Spectrum · 1975
The use of microprocessors, which will be technically feasible by 1980, will be at the heart of the total systems approach; to electronic subsystems for automobiles. The decision of whether or not to use them will be more economic than technical. As it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to meet government mandates for pollution control by use of catalytic converters, for example, microprocessors open the doors to sophisticated engine controls that can prevent pollutants from being produced by the engine. The microporcessor's arrival in automobiles will probably occur when the crossover point is reached between prices of microprocessors coming down and the costs of alternate methods of implementing pollution control going up. With an automobile central processor, a car-wide self-analysis system would be conceivable if multiplexing capabilities were incorporated in the processor.