Inaugural lecture from Professor Elias Stipidis

Overview and video

Professor Elias Stipidis considers the obstacles that have to be overcome to make ‘drive by wire’ cars commercially viable.

This lecture provides an insight into the work of vehicle electronics (or vetronics) researchers who, in the past decade, have transformed the idea of the motor vehicle by integrating mechanical and electrical/electronic components in one engine.

Many technologies, techniques and methodologies have adopted the fly-by-wire system common in the airline industry. This replaces conventional manual flight controls with an electronic interface allowing planes to be flown automatically by the aircraft's computers. Despite significant progress, however, Professor Stipidis says there are many challenges that a drive-by-wire capability in cars has to overcome to be commercially viable. They include technological, legal, safety and human factors.