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Several electronic control systems will be introduced into our cars in the near future, thus leading to an increasing demand for new and more sophysticated sensors. The sensor structure could be drastically changed because more and more functions will be required to the central microprocessors of the electronic control units, causing their overload. Taking into account that a considerable amount of microprocessor time and memory is spent for the collection and the elaboration of sensors signal, it makes sens to relieve them displacing a part of the electronics onto the sensors thus obtaining upgraded and easily usable signals. This process will lead at first to integrated sensors and later to smart and eventually microprocessor based sensors. In the paper an attempt will be given to forsee how the systems structure, the sensors configuration and the relevant implementation technologies should evolve to fulfil the future requirements of car electronics.

The goal of a control system for the smoothness of an engine's operation is to hold engine agitation at partial loading to an imperceptible level. This may be easily done in an engine with a high air/fuel ratio by means of a system that reduces this ratio if a given engine agitation factor~defined in terms of variations of the crankshaft's average time of rotation~exceeds a specified value. The paper develops the formulation of this agitation factor. Gasoline injection simplifies the incorporation of such a system, permitting smooth operation of Otto engines at very high air/fuel ratios. Consequently, favorable pollutant emission and fuel consumption characteristics can be achieved. The engine agitation value can be determined relatively easily by electronic means. Its mean value can be used as a standard for comparison of an engine's smoothness of operation.