Fuel Economy and Drive-by-Wire Control

Many automotive engineers do not associate drive-by-wire control with any improvement whatsoever in fuel economy. Nevertheless, computer simulations have now been based on stationary engine dynamometer testing of a recalibrated production engine, and these simulations of actual driving strongly suggest that fuel economy improvements in the area of 10% will result from utilizing a drive-by-wire approach which employs several novel features. Notable among these features are a dual wide-open-throttle engine calibration originated for use with continuously variable transmissions and a transmission shift control strategy which relies on electronically stored engine performance data in lieu of any form of transmission shift map.