General Motors is boasting that the new microcontroller in the ECM behind the Ecotec 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder in the 2011 Buick Regal is the ultimate power in the automotive universe. According to the company, the computer packs the quickest processing power of any microcontroller in any vehicle on the market right now. The ECU uses three megabytes of flash memory to handle a host of adjustments for things like air intake and “spark optimization.” The tech plays a big part in the amount of horsepower and fuel economy that GM has managed to squeeze out of the tiny 2.0-liter.
All told, the ECM is good for 125 million operations per second. Compare that to the 1 million operations per second of the company’s first powertrain control module, and you can see just how far on board computers have come since the 1980s. Of courses, given how quickly technology advances, something tells us the Regal’s brain won’t hold onto its title for long. Hit the jump for the press release.
