Modern diesel engines are even so far more advanced from a controls standpoint than drive-by-wire gasser cars are more advanced than general aviation. Been that way for a long time. As soon as the TPS showed up, engine controls took a quantum leap.
Modern diesel controls already include 5-7 step combustion 'rate shaping' control with multiple injections, even back in 2004 they had 2-step rate shaping.
And load-sensitive injection timing control too--very sophisticated. There are lots of high quality information sources on this topic available all over the internet, both academic and manufacturer written.
Lil4X, I'm not sure where you got this notion that cars were in the stone age, but it's a reverse situation these days. Look into it.
Elio Motors has stated (I believe in a Tech archive?) somewhere that the Elio will have drive-by-wire. It's almost a necessity to simultaneously hit emissions, power, economy, and reliability goals these days.
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