From pistons and gears to electronics and software: The coming transportation technology disruption

Electric vehicles have been around for more than a century. Heavy, ugly, slow, expensive, with short range and short life, they have been limited to golf carts and forklifts. From grocery getters to Formula One cars, pistons and gears have been the hot technology. That´s about to change. Advances in battery technology, control and power electronics make electric drive the hot technology now. From parcel delivery vans to ultra-high performance cars, electric drive offers higher performance at a 10 times efficiency improvement, and for the first time, shifts transportation away from a total dependence on oil. In this Keynote, Ian Wright explains how this is possible, why it is inevitable, and how much fun it will be for engineers. The implications for vehicle electronics systems architecture are profound.