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Originally Posted by classicman
Are these computers different than those in other makes? Do they all have their own brand of computer or is this more of a systemic problem?
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Every automaker has its own computers. GM used a stripped down variation of the Motorola - forgot if it was the PowerPC or 68000. Many of the early problems because GM used a measuring standard that was different from Motorola and other semiconductor industry benchmarks.
Ford used a customized design from Intel. One of the computers I once tried to design with was the Intel 80196 - a variation of the computer also found in Fords then.
It always amazed me. Japanese automakers used computers about as powerful as the computer inside every keyboard. GM used a more powerful computer equivalent to that in Apple computers. So Japanese engines therefore had superior control and performance. Go figure.
One feature finally appearing in cars is the CAN bus - pioneered by Intel, if I remember, in the 1980s. It finally begin appearing because Japanese automakers tend to use stifled American innovations ten and twenty years later.