What are the most important future directions for ECU technology?

The current trend is to integrate more automotive "functions" in one ECU, instead of having multiple smaller ECUs usually serving one or two functions. For example, all Vehicle Dynamics functions could be grouped in one more powerful ECU. ICAS1 developed by Continental for VW is such an example. This leads to fewer assembly parts on the production line, saving costs during industrialization and supply chain management activities. This leads to a reduction of production costs, which will either help improve the margins of the car-makers or lower prices for consumers. So far so good in theory, however, in reality is a challenge for traditional car-makers to successfully shift to SW oriented mindset.

Personally I do not like ai being introduced to any system. The room for error increases and privacy goes out the window. If you are asking a machine to make your decisions while driving,do u a all a favor and don't drive.

This is exactly why you do not want to yield all of the control to ai. In my opinion the more you leave to machines and computer systems just enable that information to become unwillingly share to the machines. V2V max is pretty scary if you don't understand why, study it's architecture and you will understand.

Sure they want the machines to learn your habits, a ND then they will use that information to bombard you with ads. Buy this Starbucs coffee instead of gas station coffee. Starbucks will be one of the biggest advertiser's and be a pain in the butt to get rid of. Mark my words, you don't want ai or ml on your car.

The E/E architectures in vehicle are evolving from their current signal-based state to being service-oriented. This affects all aspects of automotive engineering including the electrical and electronic hardware architectures, power systems, and software architectures. General purpose computing in vehicles is a clear trend driven by promise of new business models through software. In a decade central computers (or VCUs) and zone controllers will establish themselves as state-of-the-art, while domain controllers will continue to play a role in key areas like autonomous driving. It will allow vehicles to be upgradable over-the-air without having to make those painful trips to the service centers.

One thing that I feel will disrupt the ECU Technology is Cloud computing. Cloud based ECUs will change the game in terms of modularity as the ECUs can be configured and orchestrated in cloud, providing user as SaaS like experience in vehicle.

All else equal, upgradable software-defined vehicles should lead to less net units sold in the long learn, contributing directly to the sustainability goals of communities and countries. A prerequisite would be durable and robust hardware that can stand the test of time, driving new requirements up the automotive value chain.