And counting the display driver on an LCD display as a "computer" is a
real stretch of litterary licence!!!!!- Hide quoted text -


It's no stretch at all if the display is in fact implemented by using
a microprocessor or microcontroller. If it's implemented strictly
via a digital hardware device, ie, it isn't a cpu running a program,
then yes it would be just a display driver. I think the embedded
system development folks know the difference. Some key point are that
it makes sense to use a computer as opposed to just digital logic
because it's cheap, easy to design, re-programmable during
developemt, manufacturing or potentially in the field without changing
the hardware and once you have it in the display, you can then add all
kinds of nifty features because the cpu is already there and can
handle more stuff for free. If you read the article I provided,
they even point to the first use of a Motorolla 6802 microprocessor in
the 1978 cadillac dashboard display to implement the trip computer.

There is a murky area here, which you even alluded to. Is an FPGA a computer?
(no need to answer that


Actually, a trip computer IS a computer, but unlike the '78 Caddy, the
trip computer on MOST cars today is not a separate, discrete unit. The
trip computer is a FUNCTION of either the PCU or the BCU (powertrain
contol or body control unit) however it is referred to by any
particular manufacturer.
I was referring to calling a "display driver" a computer, even though
it may have a microprocessor and rom in it to generate the characters.

SOME cars DO use a separate "computer" in the dash for the trip
computer - and for things like "on-star" etc. But the number of
computers has actually DECREASED in recent years as more and more
functions are handled by fewer and fewer actual devices.