ED9man

What are the advantages to a throttle by wire compared to a traditional throttle cable?

Nightshade

Do you even know what the difference is on a fundamental level?

ED9man

Yeah, say you floor it in a drive by wire, that doesn't mean it is going to open the throttle all the way right away as opposed to a cable which is exactly as you do.

alphaxxn

The idea is to remove the mechanical linkages between the controls of a car and the devices that actually do the work. Instead of operating the steering and brakes directly, the controls would send commands to a central computer, which would instruct the car what to do.

The great advantage being put forward for this is that the computer is able to make the steering, suspension and brakes work together to give the car better handling, especially in bad road conditions, to give better fuel consumption, and to react to emergencies faster than a human driver could. Though the vehicle would look much the same, it would be transformed into what one industry expert calls “a computer network with a car wrapped round it”.

The problem for car manufacturers, who are actively researching the systems, is that getting them right is likely to be much less of a problem than convincing drivers—familiar with crashing computers at home—that their cars won’t do the same.

It’s no accident that the term sounds like fly-by-wire, which is a method of controlling commercial aircraft that has been in use for more than a decade. The term drive-by-wire has been around since the 1980s, though in early examples it could instead refer to methods of automatic steering using circuits embedded in the road surface.

As far as the industry is concerned, it is only a matter of time before drive-by-wire becomes standard. But some safety experts are questioning the wisdom of this radical change. They point out that fly-by-wire has a bumpy track record. Will the car industry learn from these mistakes, they ask, or make them all over again?

[New Scientist, 8 Nov. 2003]

Drive-by-wire may have to be proven first in a secondary system, such as the parking brake, before consumers grow more comfortable with the idea of replacing the traditional primary control systems in their vehicles.

[Business Wire, 12 Dec. 2002]

Nightshade

No....not even close.

Why do you ask these questions without ever doing any research beforehand?

ED9man

That's why I asked. If you don't want to explain it, that's fine.

Nightshade

Usually when people ask a question they have some form of basic ground level knowledge of what it is but aren't quite sure of the exact application or where exactly the pros and cons lie in the matter.

So this way at least an intelligent discussion can be had on the matter rather than remedial groundwork being laid.

Gets old after a while

dubcac

www.howstuffworks.com

ED9man

drive by wire:
foot ---> pedal ---> computer ---> actuator ---> throttle body

drive by cable
foot ---> pedal ---> cable ---> throttle body ---> ECU

Unsure parts are in bold

I want to know how the computer plays a more active role in a drive by wire car as opposed to the computer reacting to the driver's direct input as far as how much the throttle is open in a regular car.

MrFatbooty

Okay I'll put it in terms you might more readily understand. Whey you're playing a video game, how long does it take for the computer to recognize you've pressed a button, perform the necessary calculations to interpret what that button press means, and render whatever change necessary to that meaning on the screen?

Electronic throttles, generally speaking respond just fine. They only time when they don't honor the request for acceleration placed by your foot is if the stability or traction control systems decide it's time for them to intervene on your behalf. Now some cars do have crappy electronic throttles (VW/Audi 1.8T cars come to mind), but that's not merely because they have electronic throttles. It's because they have bad electronic throttles. The same can be said of cars with saggy mechanical throttle linkages.