Efficiency and optimization psycho
 

Hi everyone!
I'm an electronic engineer student currently developing a project of a device to reduce fuel waste on a drive-by-wire car for my MSc thesis.
Now that I found out this forum I hope to contribute as much as possible to hack into ECUs for a greater eco-experience ;)

Howdy!

Study the CODING within most automotive ECU's and you'll find MOST emphasis is upon "handling of exceptions", such as: (a) ignition retarding when gasoline of lower octane (than required) is used; (b) high-altitude "thinning of air" requires totally different MAP measurements of air flow, etc.

I think substantial gains could be had by electronically smoothing the spasmo throttle inputs of the average idiot.

P.S. And not allowing braking while accelerating with the engine and vice versa.

In my perspective, car companies are trying to make more efficient cars focusing on hardware optimization, but the software beyond that shiny hardware is far from perfect.

Welcome.

Julian Edgar did a simple "idiot smoothing" modification to his first generation Honda Insight simply by adding a capacitor in the throttle position sensor that helped that car's efficiency.

AutoSpeed - Giving the Insight a Good Driver