Technology Blog

Because of the electronic complexity of modern passenger vehicles, investigations into sudden, unintended acceleration should draw upon the expertise of a broad array of electrical, electronics and software engineers and computer professionals.A February 2009 IEEE Spectrum article, "This Car Runs on Code," said that a modern premium-class automobile "probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code," and "all that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units networked throughout the body of your car." By comparison, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner "requires about 6.5 million lines of code to operate its avionics and onboard support systems.""The skilled engineers and technical professionals who design and evaluate modern vehicle systems bring not only knowledge and expertise from their specific disciplines, but also their experience and lessons learned from integrating technology into these vehicles," IEEE-USA President Eve

"This Car Runs on Code," said that a modern premium-class automobile "probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code," and "all that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units networked throughout the body of your car.
"The skilled engineers and technical professionals who design and evaluate modern vehicle systems bring not only knowledge and expertise from their specific disciplines, but also their experience and lessons learned from integrating technology into these vehicles," IEEE-USA President Evelyn Hirt said.
"There is no question that any effort to investigate these incidents will clearly benefit by including engineers with a firm grasp of the complex systems threaded through today's automobiles," said Doug Taggart, chair of the IEEE-USA Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy.