The thick an thin of car cabling

As the number of electronic modules in cars continues to increase, so, too, does the size of the wiring harnesses that interconnect them. These cables not only add weight, increase costs, and complicate troubleshooting of electrical problems-they are also becoming so thick that routing them around a vehicle is by now a real challenge. Here, the author describes how multiplexing many signals onto a single wire will curb motor vehicles' voracious appetite for wire and cable, once standards and volume production take hold.