A CONCEPT car created by GM's Delco Division explores the extent to which high-tech electronic systems can be integrated into an automobile. The result: a 22-feature tour de force of electronic gadgetry. But the point of the exercise wasn't merely to demonstrate how many computers could fit on the head of a pin. The mission, according to Delco, was to explore how various systems could be integrated, and how they would interact.

Instead of using add-on components, "we wanted to show what is possible with a systems approach, where all the electronics are in sync, communicating with and reacting to each other," says Gary Dickinson, Delco Electronics president and CEO.

Many features of the concept car are familiar, such as high-intensity discharge lighting, front and side airbags, and low-pressure tire sensing. Breaking new ground is an occupant sensor that disables the airbag if the seat is empty or occupied by a child. Also new are intelligent rear brake lights sensitive to brake pressure: They are brighter in a panic stop, warning the next car.

Security features include keyless entry (which automatically adjust seats and steering wheel to preprogrammed settings), an intrusion sensor, and a GPS-activated stolen-car-tracking system.

New lighting systems are deployed extensively—the aforementioned high-intensity headlights and a perimeter lighting system that even illuminates underneath the car. If all this fails, a night-vision system improves your view even in pitch blackness.—DM.

Source: Popular Science. June, 1996.