– General Motors has bought a supercomputer from IBM for an undisclosed amount that can make 9 trillion calculations per second, fastest in the automotive industry, and will more than halve the time it takes to get a vehicle on the market to 18 months from 48. The new supercomputer more than doubles GM’s computing capacity. The technology will allow design modifications and engineering questions to be handled in hours rather than months. The supercomputer also is expected to continue cutting GM’s crash test costs by advancing digital simulations.
– The average fuel economy of 2004 automobiles is 20.8 miles per gallon, unchanged from the previous year’s models according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Fleet-average fuel economy peaked at 22.1 m.p.g. in 1987, the EPA says.
