High-tech car 'talks' to mechanics

A car that can "tell" garage staff which parts need servicing has been unveiled by university engineers.

A specially-adapted Fiat prototype has a tag attached to its engine parts in a system designed by engineers at Cambridge University.

The vehicle is then driven at low speed over a one-metre square servicing pad, which is fitted with an ultra-high frequency reader and four antennae. As the car passes over the servicing pad, the readers transmit the identity number from the electronic tags to a computer which could be cross-referenced with a computerised database to identify those parts that need to be checked for wear.

The system was presented this week at a European technology exhibition in Strasbourg.

Professor Duncan McFarlane, from the University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing, said: "Ultimately motorists could be driving into a garage over the same sort of sensor, which would instantly tell both the driver and the garage staff which parts needed replacing and which might be good for several thousand miles more."

He went on: "But there are potentially great benefits beyond this as well. When the car is sent to be scrapped, for example, radio-frequency identification tagging could be used to identify which parts still have a useful life left in them.

"The system will tell the car producer whether separate parts can be reused, recycled, or need to be disposed of in landfill. It will also highlight which parts need improving for a longer life."

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