Texas Instruments has been heavily involved with building knowledge systems of various types for many different kinds of applications from factory schedulers to diagnostic systems for complex equipment to pilots' aids in military aircraft. We have also broadcast a series of television programs on applications of knowledge systems. The author was asked to write about onboard knowledge systems in automobiles, but that was one of the kinds of application for which we have not yet built knowledge systems. Few references can be found in the literature for knowledge systems that have been completed for onboard use. As a result, this paper is a speculation, based on the experience of building and using knowledge systems in other domains. It is also intended to be something of an analogy … based on other experience, where will the opportunities and problems lie with onboard knowledge systems?
