The Great Debate: What’s more important — hardware or software?

Ask any car enthusiast what it takes to “pimp my ride” for better performance and they will probably talk about spending thousands of dollars on upgraded fuel injection systems, turbochargers, special exhaust systems, and other pricey hot rod parts — just to shave a couple of seconds from their acceleration time and boost top speed by a few more miles per hour.

However, many people are unaware that soon in the future, it may be possible to boost their car’s horsepower and torque, tweak handling capabilities, and fine-tune their transmission and suspension with a simple software upgrade to the car’s computer control unit. Better yet, downloadable software upgrades might someday enable car owners to easily upgrade the rest of their car, enabling specialized features like remote starting capability, enhanced security monitoring, child-lock protection, and more.