We’ve gone past the mechanical and electrical ages and  are now in the advent of electronics age - accepted; But are we really ready to replace every device known into some form of electonic gadget ? Computers were once mechanical devices; so are the numerous scientific instrumements- from thermometer to steam engine.

Since the advent of micro chips, better called the ‘Silicon revolution‘, we’re seeing everything going hay-wireless, with today’s a digital autonomy over the internet being just a tip of an iceberg. With the massive advancements in  the silicon industry over the past decade, researches are on the way to replace the mechanics and hydraulics in automotives to electronic gadgets. This technology of replacing hydro-mechanical moving parts of a car with electrical wires and electronic circuitry is called ‘Drive by Wire’ (’DbW‘ in short) or ‘X by wire‘- X denoting various types of replacements like - ‘Steer by Wire‘, ‘Brake by wire‘,  ‘Throttle by wire‘, etc. So the complete amalgamation of all these terms is ‘Drive by Wire’.

Now as we have seen what is really behind this ‘Drive by Wire’ technology, the topic of this post as well as the next question that pops up in our mind is - Are we ready for this ? Are we ready for implementing this in our cars ? May be, partly yes right now.

This technology seems promising at one hand since it reduces the total weight to an unbelievable proportion which in turn yields fuel efficiency, less emissions and thus less carbon foot print per car. On the other hand the safety is a serious concern which ultimately depends on the proficiency of the electronics and the firmware / software designed to run on it. While most of us do not know that this technology has already been in place for atleast a decade-well, not in cars but in airplanes. This might raise some eyebrows but this technology has been used in airplanes only after rigorous research and testing.

Electronic fuel Injection and Electronic throttle control have already been implemented in passenger cars

Automotive industry is also wary of convincing the drivers that this is really safe to pursue for a car. Also one less likely but considerable risk for these auto giants is that once the mechanics is gone, it might have to face some serious competition from electronics giants like Siemens, Nokia, etc  which might give some serious thoughts once these kind of ‘X-by-Wire’ technology for cars is streamlined.  But that seems a long shot for me.

If this occurs in the very near future, then we can see people driving cars with Joy sticks, just like the way one plays it in video games !!

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