In 1985, my editor, Scott DeGarmo, asked me to write a cover story on the future of the automobile - when the future was the Ford Taurus. It's now kind of a museum artifact and I hope you enjoy it and offer feedback.

1. NOVEMBER 1985 S2
.00

2. Sf]ENrCE
a1ges
ENGINEERING
OURDRIVING
FUTURE
REINVENTIN
BY
ANIIIEW
C.RMIN
PIIITRAITS
BY
HARRY
BENSON
obert Frosch once oversaw one
of the most ambitious engineer-
ing projects ever developed from
a clean sheet of paper: the design
and construction of a vehicle that
could hurtle into space and glide
back to Earth, carrying cargo and
crew, and do it over and over again. The space
shuttle became a reality under his guidance as
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration during the years of the
·carter presidency.
Nowhe is trying to do itagain. This time, the
vehicle that is taking shape on the clean sheet
is designed to carry a typical family and its
trappings safely, reliably and cheaply along
America's highways. As vice-president at Gen-
eral Motors Corporation in charge of research
laboratories-a scientific network that dwarfs
. many universities-Frosch is part of an indus-
try-wide effort to reinvent the 100-year-old
automobile and the 70-year-old method by
which it is made.
Bolstered by recent profits and an econom-
ic recovery, the American auto industry has re-
covered from the "panic era" of the late 1970s
and begun a major offensive in the battle to
fend off.imports. Its weapon is technology.
Each year, more than $5 billion is being spent
on research and development. Thousands of
physicists, chemists, computer scientists and
engineers have been enlisted. (Frosch's lair,
the GMTechnical Center, employs 6,000 re-
searchers, engineers and support staff, hun-
dreds of them with doctoral degrees, spread
over a 330-acre campus.)
Supercomputers run nonstop, simulating
everything from the way a car coilapses in a §
collision to the way the light plays over a cer- i
i'c
tain color paint on a new design. There are lab- 6
oratories that resemble overgrown playpens, ~
§
where the latest robots are run through their
41

3. ~NG
THE
CAR
_es to see how they can best be put to work. Research-
_
ts scour the world for promising innovations, new materi-
als, fresh ideas. Each new assembly line incorporates
more of the new and less of the old . Robots glide and
dance, delivering supplies and welding parts.
The massive resources of GM($84 billion in revenues
last year; number two on the Fortune500, behind only Ex-
xon) have allowed it to go far beyond anything a company
has done before to change with the times: It is spending $5
billion to create the Saturn Corporation, a separate division
that GMhopes will be able to produce a compact car by
1990 that can compete with the Japanese. It has spent bil-
lions more acquiring computer, aerospace and robotics
companies and has created a "Factory of the Future," an
automated , flexible factory for building front-wheel-drive
axles that is a test-bed for the latest technology.
F
ord is also shopping for high-technology companies
and has set a goal: Nearly 100percent of the parts in
its cars are to be computer-designed by 1988.It has
just introduced a new gene ration of automobiles
that are the first American cars to incorporate the
latest in wind-cheating aerodynamics . Chrysler, taking ad-
vantage of its small size (less than one-fifththe size of GM),
has already integrated its computer resources .
This battle will not only determine the shape of the
world auto industry into the next century but will funda-
mentally alter the way American industry works. A report
by the Harvard Business School, "The Auto Industry and
the American Economy," describes the changes as noth-
ing less than "the largest peacetime shift in technological,
human and capital resources in U.S. history."
As in most conflicts, there will be casualties-thou-
sands of blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Also, some ana-
lysts say, there is the danger that at least one of the Big
Three, unable to compete, will become little more than an
importer of foreign-built automobiles.
Even so, for the first time since the panic era, the auto
industry is displaying guarded optimism. The important
change, according to Donald Kopka, vice-president for de-
sign at Ford, is one of attitude-away from what he calls a
problem mentality. "When you have that kind of mentality
and a new idea comes along, you don't have time for it,"
he says. "It's frightening. I believe we now have our head
above water. If we sharpen our vision a little bit, we're go-
ing to start to see these opportunities out there. If we don't,
we aren 't even going to have an auto business in this part
of the world."
At the center of effort sits a device that hasn't changed
dramatically in its hundred-year history. As a recent four-
year study by MIT concludes, "The automobile is still a
four-wheeled, internally powered personal-transport appa -
ratus for road use , designed to carry a driver and a few pas-
sengers. Technical advances have provided utility, perfor-
Se:1iorwriter Andrew C. Reukin circled Ford's test track, got lost in
GM's Tech Center and braved Germany's autobahn to get this story.
42 SCIENCE
DIGEST
-NOVEMBER 1985
GM's hopes are riding
on the Saturn. All-
new plants will turn
out this showpiece of
high technology.

4. REINVENTING
THE
CAR
mance, operating economy and personal comfort far
beyond the dreams of the original automakers, but the
concept of the automobile remains much as it was in the
mid-1880s."
The leading gurus of automotive technology echo that
assessment and predict no revolutionary changes in the
basic design for decades to come . The internal-combus-
tion (IC), reciprocating gasoline engine, forexample, is ex-
pected to remain the power source of choice well beyond
the year 2000 . "Of course , we keep looking at other
things," Frosch says. "I, like everybody else, keep saying
there must be something better than this rather complex,
peculiar mechanical lash-up. But nothing has suddenly
walked in the door-nothing like the advent of jet engines
in aircraft, where the physics was different."
Jim Gagliardi,at Ford, a 32-year veteran of engine engi-
neering, has seen a lot of alternatives come and go. But,he
says, "every time, you always come back to the ICengine,
because in a little gallon of gas you can carry an awful lot
of energy. And it works from the Arctic at fiftybelow to the
desert . As long as you can crank it over, it'll start."
There have, ofcourse, been enormous advances in vari-
ous areas . As late as the mid-1970s, cars were remarkably
unaerodynamic. According to one engineer, the seemingly
sinuous Corvette of the time was actually more stream-
lined in reverse. Computer models and new wind-tunnel
tests have changed all that. The use of plastics and light-
weight alloys has contributed to a dramatic reduction in
the weight of the average American car-from 3,800
pounds in 1975 to 2,700 pounds today. Most important,
electronics-particularly the microprocessor-has im-
proved virtually every system, from the control of fuel in-
jection and spark in an engine to the split-second control
of antilock brakes. The result is better efficiency, perfor-
mance, safety and reliability.
But refiningthe product is only half of the challenge,
says John Betti, Ford executive vice-president for
technical affairs. "The real battlefield over the next
few years is going to be in manufacturing ."
Japanese companies can not only build a car for
$1,500 to $2,000 less than their American competitors,
they can also build a car better. Asrecently as August 1983,
according to statistics gathered by J. D. Powers & Asso-
ciates, 50 percent of U.S.-made cars had problems on de-
livery.For Japanese cars, the figure is 36 percent.
If Detroit is going to produce an advanced, efficient, reli-
able car that is competitively priced, many analysts say, it
must make some drastic changes: Itmust shorten the time
it takes to go from "clean sheet" to "job one," the firstcar
to rolloffan assembly line. This process now consumes up
to fiveyears and $4 billion. Also, it must throw away many
long-held conceptions of the manufacturing process and
devise a new type of factory-one that is flexible enough
to respond to the fickle market and incorporate the latest
technologies, consistent enough to ensure quality and effi-
Continued on page 48
44 SCIENCE
DIGEST-NOVEMBER 1985
IDIALDKOPKA
FORDVICE-PRESIDENT
/ DESIGN
His design studio , the size of a small aircraft
hangar, overflows with sleek prototypes . The
challenge, says Kopka, is to take such advances
from the concept stage to the production line.

5. REINVENTING
THE
W
Continued from page 44
cient enough to keep costs down.
Henry Ford had a mythic ability to take novel ideas and
tum them into something concrete. According to corpo-
rate lore, he once gave a supplier of Model T engine com-
ponents unusually explicit specifications-including the
exact dimensions of the wooden shipping crates that
would carry the parts, right down to the placement of
screws. As the story goes, company executives could not
understand why he seemed as concerned with the pack-
ages as with the parts. But when the parts arrived, it be-
came clear that he had intended all along that the crates,
disassembled, would provide ready-made floorboards.
Today, America's carmakers are conducting an unpar-
alleled search for ever newer and better ideas. Ralph
Behler, director ofGM'sFactories of the Future project, has
been given the daunting task of tracking worldwide devel-
opments in every technology that might be important for
his company. A color-coded chart on his office wall lists
promising technologies. He ticks off the categories: "The
green entries are available somewhere in the world for use
today; yellow, in limited use, high potential; blue, research
areas under development; red, things that would be very
useful, but we can't find anybody doing work on them."
To keep his chart filled, Behler organized a team of
scientists who travel the world, visiting small com-
panies, technical meetings and universities, on the
prowl for nascent technologies that might be ex-
ploited by GM.
The search for new ideas often ends overseas. Ford's
newest automobiles, the Taurus and Sable, sport aerody-
namic bodies inherited from their autobahn-bred cousins
built by Ford Europe. According to Lewis Veraldi, Taurus
project leader, these cars were developed from the tires up
by literally ripping apart dozens of cars from around the
world to find the best features of each and take them one
step further. For example, the "best seats in the world," he
says, were found in the Opel Senator, a car built by GMin
West Germany.
BothFord and GM,with facilitiesaround the globe, have
a hard time just keeping track of developments at their
own research centers. Donald Kopka says Ford has an an-
nual "worldwide design congress" to encourage cross-fer-
tilization.Also, more and more research facilitiesare being
tied together electronically. "We have a slow-scan TV
hookup with our wind tunnel in Cologne, with our opera-
tion in Italy and with the Lockheed/ Georgia wind tunnel,"
he says. "So if there's something interesting going on in
any one of those places, we can ring them up and sit and
watch it in real time."
Yet another source of ideas is the partnership . A two-
year-old pact between GMand Toyota, for instance , has
produced a plant in Fremont, California, that is churning
out 360 new Chevrolet Novas a day-under Japanese su-
pervision. The project provides a way for GMto stay in the
small-car market no matter what happens with Saturn. But
48 SCIENCE
DIGEST-NOVEMBERI985
ROBERT
BRAIJBIIRGER
CHRYSLER
CHIEFENGINEER
Brauburgerwatches over Chrysler'stechnical
computer center,the heartof an integrated
network thatincludesaCyber205supercomputer
and, at last count, nearly1,000terminals.

6. I
u
"'
w
~ Chrysler has teamed
g up with Maserati to
.= produce a S30,000
: roadster that will go
~ on sale In 1987.
.DINA.BETTI
FORDEXECUTIVE
VICE-PRESIDENT
As senior officer responsibl e for technology
development and product design, he is making
a fundamental change in the look and feel of
Ford cars for the first time since the Mustang.
just as important, it gives GM a close-up look at Japanese
methods. "The Toyota partnership is a way to hedge," says
Frosch, candid asalways, "and a way to get a better look at
how they go about managing such a thing. We're watching
how they do a start-up, how they do a design thing, how
they deal with their workers, and so on. The product will
be useful, but it's also educational for us."
The next step is to transfer a good idea to the factory
floor-not an easy task, says Frosch. "We're trying to
make a very rapid, radical change and still run a business."
When a new concept, process or material is discovered, he
49

7. REINVENTING
THE
r.AR
says,"it's all very well to say you're going to analyze it and
understand it and advance it and adopt it. But like most
theoreticians, I'm a great believer in experiment. You can
do all the analysis you want, but you usually have not
found the problems that will really make trouble for you
when you try it."
That is where GM's Saturn Corporation will come in.
Saturn has been created not just to produce a new car but
to produce a new industrial culture. Besides incorporating
and integrating the latest technology, Saturn will negotiate
its own labor contracts and will use the latest management
techniques, many derived from Japanese methods. Inno-
vations that work can be transferred to other parts of GM;
those that don't can be discarded before they become cost-
ly mistakes. Saturn is an experiment, a physical test of new
ideas, conducted on a scale never before seen in private
industry.
No single entity has a more central role in Detroit's bat-
tle plans than the computer. Eachsecond of every working
day, the American auto industry chums through billions of
bits of information-searching, testing, monitoring, pro-
cessing. The Big Three have all recently purchased super-
computers. The number of mainframes , micros, minis and
terminals is increasing so rapidly that no one has a firm
idea of just how many there are on a particular day. Robert
Brauburger, chief engineer in Chrysler's technical comput-
er center, sayshe has been "chased from office to office by
the growing flood" of hardware. By the time this story is
printed, he will have moved again.
Computer-aided design, engineering and manufactur-
ing (CAD, CAEand CAM) have fundamentally changed the
way a new car is created, cutting thousands of man-hours
and millions of dollars from the process.
With CAD,the shapeof a car body or component
is developed "on the tube," on a light-sensitive
computer screen that responds to the touch of
a light pen wielded by a stylist. Software such
asGM's Autocolor allows a designer to go sev-
eral steps further and produce a full-color, photoeraphlike
image of an imaginary car that can be viewed from any an-
gle under any lighting conditions. David Warn, who devel-
oped Autocolor, says,"We can display the transparency ef-
fect of glassin windows, the shiny reflectance from a metal
fender and the duller flatness of, say, a plastic taillight
lens." All without building a costly prototype.
When it comes time to translate a design into a physical
model, this process, too, is computerized. The air in the de-
sign studios of all the carmakers still carries the damp, pun-
gent scent of clay, but the venerable full-scale clay model,
.once hand-sculpted, can now be milled from a roughly
shaped chunk by a comptuer-driven arm holding a fine
steel stylus.
Computer-aided design is also having an impact be-
neath the contoured surfaces of the car, particularly in the
design of electronics. The auto industry has become the
biggest consumer-and one of the biggest manufactur-
50 SCIFNCFDIGFST-NOVEMBER 198',
DAVID
R.
WARN
GMSYSTEM
DESIGNER
Warn developed the Autocolor display system for
GM Withit, designers will soon be able to mold
digital images of car prototypes as though they
were clay models-but much more quickly.

8. A coupled structural-
acoustic model makes
use of colors to show
which Interior panels
are the noisiest.
DRS.
SHUNG
SUNG
AND
OONAlD
NEFSKE
GMSTRUCTURAL
ACOUSTICS
SPECIALISTS
Theircouplingequationletstwo computermodels
work together,relatinginteriorstructureto
acoustics. Themodelspredictnoiseproblems
and suggestsolutionsbeforethe caris made.
ers-of microprocessors, microchips that perform a set
function, such as controlling lighting or fuel flow. A CAD
program at GM, called Autochip, can reduce the time it
talcesto design and test the intricate circuitry on a custom-
designed chip from two years to several months.
The pinpointing of design flaws, the whittling dowri of a
part for maximum strength with minimum weight, the pre-
diction of an as-yet-unbuilt vehicle's performance: These
all fall in the province of CAE.The behavior of almost any
object or system can be simulated by reducing it to a series
of equations derived from the laws of physics. By modify-
ing elements in these equations to correspond with the
characteristics of various materials or conditions, an engi-
neer, with Promethean foresight, can anticipate and avoid
potential pitfalls.
51

9. REINVENllNG
THE
r.AR
Some examples of CAE
:Allthree carmakers are us-
ing computers to pinpoint sources of vibration in a
car design that add to interior noise. At Ford, any
one of the 80 to 90 ways a car vibrates can be iso-
lated and amplified for easier analysis. In one dem-
onstration, a computer display shows how engine vibra-
tions in a car moving at a certain speed start the car roof
wobbling up and down, like a beach blanket being shaken
by two people. Many of the body panels in a car can vi-
brate like the head of a drum-a phenomenon called
booming . A structural-acoustic computer model devel-
oped at the GMTech Center over the past 11 years pin-
pointed such a sound source early in the development of
the new Chevrolet AstroVan, long before a prototype was
built.Subsequent changes in stiffener and mount locations
reduced interior noise by seven decibels without the addi-
tion of extra soundproofing.
The handling characteristics of vehicles can also be
simulated . One demonstration, at Ford, shows a Bronco II
responding to a quick full turn of the steering wheel at 30
mph. According to one suspension engineer, this system
caught a flawin tire design in Ford's Aerostar van before it
was built.
In manufacturing, there are computers that control the
robots and tools that are replacing assembly-line workers,
and others that scan and measure the product with laser
beams and electronic eyes, replacing the easily fatigued
eyes of inspectors.
Computers are also helping engineers fully exploit the
potential of robots. A program being developed at GM,
called RoboTeach, will speed the application of robots to
many new tasks. Currently, a robot is usually programmed
by physically running it through the series of motions it will
be required to perform once on-line.This process can take
several weeks . RoboTeach , which produces an accurate
moving image of a particular robot on a computer display,
will allow an engineer to choreograph a machine's every
move in a few days, before it is installed.When the number
of robots throughout GMis added up-a total of about
4,000--the value of such a time-saver becomes clear. And
that number will nearly quadruple by 1990.
As principal engineer on Ford's robot assessment pro-
gram,Thomas Helzerman has created a testing ground for
any Ford division that wants to fit a robot into its existing
facilitiesor devise a new use for such technology. In-alow-
slung building in Ford's Dearborn research complex , he
works with a mechanical menagerie-dozens of robots ,
each cordoned off by a yellow plastic chain. There are
lanky arms with rubber-accordion joints and gleaming pis-
tons that heft 350-pound engine blocks as easily as a man
lifts a coffee cup; robot "knives" that trim plastic panels
with a hair-fine jet of water; dextrous robot hands that can
manipulate stamp-size electrical parts. The program is a
sort of aptitude test for robots-putting competing ma-
chines through a series of maneuvers to compare their pre-
cision, limitations and special skills.
Even the "black arts," such as the stamping of metal,
52 SCIENCE
DIGEST-NOVEMBER 1985
RIIIERT
B.
TILOVE
AND
MARYS.PICKffi
GMCOMPUTER
SCIENTISTS
By 1989, GM will be using more than /4,()()()robots
in manufactunng . A system called RoboTeach,
developed by Tilove, Pickett and others, will
program the robots before they are installed

10. Twin lasers probe the process of Internal combustion.
FIRE ANDLIGHT
Lasers shoot into the heart of an internal-combustion
cylinder, the precise beams cutting through a maelstrom
of exploding gases and unburned exhaust.
"We've known for years that combustion is a com­
plex process," says Michael Dyer, supervisor of the
Combustion Applications Division of Sandia National
Laboratories' Livermore, California, facility, "but until re­
cently it wasn't crucial that we understood the details."
Now it is. To help cut exhaust emissions and im­
prove fuel economy, scientists at Sandia, funded by the
Department of Energy, are trying to see just what hap­
pens in the millisecond or so it takes a cylinder of com­
pressed fuel and air to explode.
Their major tools are lasers and supercomputers.
Wavelength shifts and interference patterns in reflected
laser light tell them what molecules are moving how fast
and in what direction, at every point in the cylinder, dur­
ing every split second of the reaction. The computer
screen gives the scientists a detailed simulation.
Researchers have learned some surprising things.
Says Dyer, "We always thought unburned hydrocarbons
in the exhaust were caused by rapid cooling as hot gas­
es contacted cooler cylinder walls. They really come
from gases trapped in crevices around the head gasket
and pistons. Now that we know reducing the interior
surface area of the cylindef is the wrong solution, auto
companies can work on the right ones." ■
._________________________,el:
53

11. REINVENTING
THE
W
are coming under the control of computers. The GMTech
Center is refining a program called GMFORMthat can pre-
dict the behavior of sheet metal as it is stretched and mold-
ed by heavy stamping dies into the complex curves in to-
day's aerodynamic cars. The seemingly simple process of
shaping steel is actually an exceedingly difficult physics
problem. Existing mathematical simulations would bum
up 200 hours on an IBM_
3081 computer. On a Cray super-
computer, after modifying the code, GMFORMhas run 50
times faster.Byshiftingthe trial-and-errorpart of die design
to "the tube," a major part of the cost of retooling for a new
car line can be avoided.
The application of computers to a variety of processes
is simple compared with the next step-integration. What
GMand the others are trying to do is replace this trio of ac-
ronyms-CAD, CAE,CAM-with the single, overarching
rubric "computer-integrated manufacturing," CIM,making
the design, fabrication and assembly of the 15,000 parts
that go into an automobile a seamless, flexible process.
At the human level, integration is already occurring.
All three carmakers are involving everyone from
tool designers to assembly-line workers in the de-
sign process from the beginning. "The lines be-
tween traditional areas are becoming blurred,"
says Donald Kop~a. "In the old days, the 'artiste' with his
beret on used to do a beautiful shape on a package, and
then it would go to body engineering and have to be
changed, would go to chassis engineering and have to be
changed-God knows how many iterations this thing went
through. Which may explain the funny looks of some of
the cars in those eras."
Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to get machines to com-
municate than it is to get people to talk to each other. Be-
fore the industry can create a truly integrated, flexible man- ,
ufacturing system, it must deal with the clutter of
incompatibility among computers, robots and other auto-
mated hardware destined for, or already on, the factory
floor.
At GM,for example, only 15 percent of the 40,000-odd
programmable or computerized devices in existing plants
can be linked to one another through a common interface.
The result of this "Tower of Babel," says GMchairman and
CEO Roger Smith, is a vast, discontinuous archipelago of
"islands of automation." Withthe number of computerized
devices in GMfactories expected to increase to 200,000by
1990, and the simultaneous push for integration, there is
intense pressure to settle on a standard means of commu-
nication.
TIDJIAS
HELZERMAN
FORDAUTOMATION
SYSTEMS
ENGINEER
At Ford's Robotics and Automation Applications
Consulting Center, he is suffounded by robots,
running them through theirpaces to see which ones
are best suited for which specialized job .
This dilemma faces every carmaker (and, of course, / ,
manufacturers of everything from toasters to computers),
but because of its dominant position, GMis calling the
shots, Last year, it gave a hands-on demonstration at the
National Computer Conference of what it hopes the future
will be like. On display were scale models of an automo-
bile assembly line and machine shop, incorporating sys-
Continued on page 87
54 SCIE
NCEDIGEST
-NOVE MBER1985

12. ~
An artist's rendering
of the-Probe V, Ford's
most advanced design.
The car has low drag
but wtll carry five.
THE
JAPANESE
CHALLENGE
Down the road awaits Toyota's FX-1 experimental model.
The
challenge of the Japaneseautomobile industry to
its American and European competitors is powered by a
determination to exploit its mastery in·electronics and
new materials. Already the Japanese, like their major
competitors, have developed microprocessor-controlled
engine systems and the use of ceramics, new metal al-
loys and other compounds for body and engine parts.
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi all have their
vision of the future, but it's what's on the road now that
is spearheading the challenge.
■ Electronicsuspension systems: Mitsubishi has de-
signed an eight-bit microprocessor in its Galant luxury
cruiser's suspension system that automatically switches
from a hard to a soft setting and back again. A computer
calculates elements such as load, weight distribution,
braking, speed, acceleration and road-surface conditions
to determine the vehicle-height adjustments. The body is
lowered to reduce body lift and wind resistance, thus as-
suring greater fuel economy and increased vehicle sta-
bility ; for ease of exit and entry and adequate ground
clearance, the body elevates slightly.
■ Skid control· Sensors located in each of the front
wheels and at the rear-wheel differential detect when
one wheel or the rear pair is turning slower than the
others-a sign of approaching lockup . A microcomputer
diverts brake fluid from that wheel, which increases its
speed. When it again reaches the speed of the other
wheels, normal brake pressure is applied. Thus, pump-
ing of the brakes is specific to each front wheel or to the
rear wheels as a pair, preventing spinouts when one
side of the car is on a dry surface and the other on a
slippery surface.
■ Driving-navigation
systems: Nissan's Driver Informa-
tion System is a concept combining sensors, microcom-
puters, voice synthesizers and LED displays to create an ;,
electronic package that can navigate, avoid collisions §
and even warn a driver it senses to be drowsy. The sys-
tem is a navigational aid that relies on terrestrial magne- §u,_
tism sensors and speedometer input to calculate elapsed
distance and direction. It compares this information with ~
L..- ______________ c_o_n_tt_
·n_u_e_d_o_n_pa__g_e
;
45

13. REINVENTIII
THE
CAR "
REPORT
FROM
WEST
GERMANY
When
Ford decided to market a high-performance se-
dan in the United States, it went to its German division .
The result, the German-built Merkur XR4Ti, a sleek cat of
a car, has been the talk of the American auto press ever
since its introduction earlier this year.
When Japan's high-flying Honda Motor Corporation
decided to build a new research center to study automo-
tive styling, it chose a site in West Germany.
When Road & Track chose the top 12 "enthusiast
cars" last year-cars that return the most driving plea-
sure per dollar-the list included all the major German
carmakers: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche and Audi
(the last is a division of Volkswagen).
For decades, Germany has maintained a reputation
for producing precisely engineered, high-performance
automobiles. The source of this outstanding record may
well be the forces of natural selection. These cars have
evolved features that allow them to survive in one of the
world's most demanding automotive environments-a
daunting terrain that varies from snow-covered mountain
passes,where even the best brakes and suspension find
their limits, to the autobahn, where cars routinely cruise
at better than 100 mph (at least for now; speed limits
are gaining political backing).
Her.eis a sample of what these challenging condi-
tions have produced:
Several new Audi models now have a full-time, four-
wheel-drive (4WD) power train that is one of the first
specifically designed to boost on-road performance rath-
er than off-road mobility (most 4WD systems have to be
switched on, usually just for rough going). A sticking
point had been to deliver power to the front and rear
wheels but still allow them to spin at different rates
when the vehicle turned. The system's designer, Jorg
Bensinger, whose previous credits include the mid-en-
gine, plastic-bodied Porsche 904, solved the problem by
incorporating an inter-axle differential into the gearbox,
similar to the standard differential that splits a car's axle
to let the left and right drive wheels-spin•at different
rates.
The Germans, despite a tradition of handcrafting, are
no laggards in manufacturing technology . In fact, Volks-
wagen's Hall 54, a new plant in Wolfsburg that is turning
out 2,300 Golfs and Jettas a day, is-for now, at least-
the most automated in the world . Robots are not only
used for welding but perform 25 percent of assembly,
including such precise tasks as installation of the engine,
battery and wheels.
Electronics is the one area where Germany has been
left behind. But that is changing quickly . High in BMW's
Four-Cylinder Building, which looms over Munich's
Continued on page 89
46 SCI
ENCEDIGEST-NOVE MBER1
98'::i
An englneless auto
laboveJ Is put Inside
the unique Mercedes
state-of-the-art
driving simulator.
Computers show
visualsIn real time
laboveJ; hydraulics
mimicforces
of acceleration
and deceleration
lrlghtJ.

14. This year, take the entire
family to the Lagoon Nebula.
It's easy to reach with a
Celestron telescope.
educational. Our high-quality
optics make the views spec­
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era can be adapted to most
of our scopes1 including our
CS-the worid's most popular
telescope.
$3.00 for a catalog. Or call
l-800-421-1526.
Celestron precision
optics. There isn't a better way
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• CELE!iTRDn®
lagoon Nebula
taken with
the Celestron CS.
So are all kinds of out­
of-the-way spots. Like the
Pleiades, Jupiter, Saturn and
the Andromeda Galaxy.
Traveling by Celestron is
- If youd like to learn more
about going first class, send us Celestron International, 2835 Columbia Street
Torrance, CA 90503 (213) 328-9560
THE CAR
Continued from page 54
terns built by seven different suppliers.
Each part communicated with the others
via hardware and soitware specified by
MAP, Manufacturing Automation Protocol,
a set of standards developed by GM that is
expected to be adopted worldwide.
Just a year later, GM has opened a
working production line for front-wheel­
drive axles that incorporates as much of
MAP as is currently possible. By 1987,
CAD terminals will communicate directly
with the factory floor and MAP will be
proving its mettle. As with Saturn Corpora­
tion, the $52 million facility in Saginaw,
Michigan, is envisioned as being a combi­
nation of ongoing production and far-flung
exploration.
Out on the Road
The outcome of this unparalleled peri­
od of experimentation and expenditure
will be apparent sometime in the early
1990s. By then, the first Saturn cars, along­
side Tauruses, Toyotas and all the rest,
will be out on America's roads-the final
proving ground. According to John Betti,
whose glass-walled office overlooks the
sprawl of Detroit from the twelfth floor of
The Glass House, Ford World Headquar­
ters, it won't be hard to keep score. "The
winners are going to be the survivors," he
says. ■
JAPANESE CARS
Continued from page 45
previously entered coordinates for desti­
nation and then tells the driver just how far
to go and in which direction.
A radar system that relies on the phase
differential between two Doppler signals
calculates speed and direction of nearby
vehicles or obstacles and delivers a warn­
ing to the driver; if there is risk of a colli­
sion, it overrides the accelerator and ap­
plies the brakes.
Guarding Against Sleep
To combat weariness, Nissan has de­
veloped an ingenious drowsiness monitor
that interprets such data as time at the
wheel, weather conditions and night or
daytime driving. After a fixed period of
time, the monitor will signal the driver to
stop and take a break. Additionally, if the
computer senses an absence of steering
correction followed by a quick jerking of
the wheel-a telltale sign of drowsiness­
the monitor will sound a buzzer warning
the driver to stop.
Designers at Nissan are currently wres­
tling with implementing an automobile
version of the head-up display (HUD)
found in fighter aircraft. In such a device, a
hologram would display, in the driver's
line of sight, such vital information as
speed, engine condition or direction indi­
cators from an on-board navigation sys-
tern. This way, the driver would not have
to take his eyes off the road in order to
read instrument data.
Nissan and Toyota have also devel­
oped systems that record mechanical mal­
functions. The problems are then relayed
to a computer hookup at an automobile
service center, ensuring that the car is ser­
viced properly.
■ Engine and transmission controls: The
Ministry of International Trade and Indus­
try (MIT!) is contemplating a project
aimed at producing a prototype ceramic
gas-turbine engine that will better resist
corrosion under high fuel temperatures.
The project would include all the major
Japanese automakers and would be
backed by a sizable allotment in govern­
ment funds. Its goal: a virtually mainte­
nance-free car capable of using a variety
of fuels.
Getting in Gear
A lower priced, simple-to-operate and
more fuel-efficient automatic transmission
for engines of up to 1,600 cubic centime­
ters is the objective of most Japanese auto
manufacturers. Honda, for example, re­
cently began marketing a semiautomatic
system it calls Hypershift, which adds
high- and low-gear ratios in second, third
and fourth-providing a total of seven for­
ward gears and saving on engine wear. A
microcomputer activates the extra gear ra­
tios according to the pressure applied to
the accelerator. ■
87

15. GERMANCARS
Continued from page 46
Olympic Park,Thomas Gubitz,the compa-
ny's director of technical information, says
BMW's approach to electronics is like the
styling of its cars-functional and low pro-
file. No "bells and whistles." Asa BMW en-
gineer put it recently, "We will not Atari-
ize our cars."
One example is the recently intro-
duced Service Interval Indicator (SI). Until
now, the service schedule for a car has
been a simple function of mileage; for in-
stance, BMW used to recommend an oil
change every 4,500 miles and a complete
inspection every 9,000 miles. But such a
routine doesn't take into account the hab-
its of a particular driver or the conditions a
certain car has been exposed to. The mi-
croprocessor-basedSI system changes all
that by tracking such parameters as the
number of cold starts,the frequency of pe-
riods of high engine speed and high tem-
perature. It computes a service interval
based on actual engine wear. The payoff?
On average, it has extended the time be-
tween service stops by close to 40 percent.
Mercedes-Benzhasjust built a $20-mil-
lion, computer-controlled driving simula-
tor in West Berlin that is more sophisticat-
ed than many flight simulators, which are
used to train airline pilots. According to
the intense, tousle-haired project director,
Ferdinand Panik,only a military helicopter
simulator at the NASA Ames Research
Center comes close to the complexity-
and reality--0f Mercedes's creation.
The device gives the impression that
someone has placed a toy car in a teacup
and balanced the affair on the tips of the
fingers of one hand. But this car is a full-
size, pale blue Mercedes 380 SE sedan,
and this "teacup" weighs six tons. It is
supported by six agile hydraulic arms .
From the driver's seat,the view is a seam-
less, 180-degree,computer-generated im-
age of one of many possible environ-
ments-the Hockenheim racetrack , a
winding mountain road, the autobahn.
A pair of Gould computers generates
the mathematical model that represents
the characteristics of a particular vehicle.
This model is linked to a DEC computer
that generatesa new image 50 times a sec-
ond. Yet another computer controls the
hydraulic arms that jostle the dome, re-
creating every jarring bump in the road
and the sharp force of sudden stops or
turns. A custom-built digital sound synthe-
sizer responds to touches of the brakes,
steering wheel and accelerator, instantly
producing the appropriate engine roar,
wind noise and tire squeal from loud-
speakerspositioned in and around the car.
Why go to so much trouble to imitate
the everyday experience of driving a car?
Panik spills out severalreasons:The simu-
lator will be used to study driver behavior
in controlled, repeatable situations-in-
cluding those that are too dangerous to try
on the road. But more important is its po-
tential in research and development of
new automotive systems.
Aerodynamics, suspension, engine de-
sign and other factors that affect a car's be-
havior are analyzed routinely today using
computer simulation. But the readout is
on a cathode-raytube. The single most im-
portant source of information in determin-
ing the value of a new feature-the driv-
er-has been left out until well along in
the design process,when a working proto-
type is built.
What Mercedes has done is incorpo-
rate versions of all these models into a de-
vice you can sit in--0ne that jolts your gut
when the suspension is wrong. The simu-
lator reproduces every nuance of the ex-
perience of handling a car-in real time,
in a real car. It can be quickly repro-
grammed to simulate the behavior of
front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, high
power, diesel power, a sleek car, a boxy
car or even an imaginary car.
According to Johannes Drosdol, who
manages the six-man team that put it to-
gether, the simulator allows test drivers to
assess the behavior of a new system far
earlier than ever before-while the system -
is still just a good idea. ■
".. .Now for the good news!"
AVAILABLE AS T-SHIRT
OR POSTER
White silk-screen art on navy blue T-shirt.
Arrow points to our star, the Sun, which
is only one of 100 billion stars in the Milky
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This graphic is also available as a
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Proceeds used to promote space development.
Space Shuttle Shirts!
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You can order this shirt with your choice
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T-shirts are $7.50 plus $1.50 postage
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SIZES : S, M, L, XL
Buttons and Bumper Stickers are
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The " You Are Here" poster is $6.00
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127 W.82 St.
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NY, NY 10024
(Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery .)
© 1981HarrellGraham,
Washington
, DC
. All rightsreserved
.
89