Three meg of flash memory and 128 MHz clock speed doesn’t sound like a lot in terms of computing power until you consider the environment these controllers have to live in...Unlike most home entertainment and electronic devices, our controllers are made to operate reliably up to 260 degrees (127C) and down to -40 degrees (-40C) for the life of the vehicle
On top of that, the ECU has to be completely sealed from dust and moisture, so cooling fans are out, they can only use heat sinks. Anyone who's used a laptop in a country like the Philippines knows that when it gets hot, you start to see glitches and slowdown. You can't have that in a car's computer, because lives are at stake. It's pretty impressive that they can design a piece of electronics that can withstand that much abuse and expect it to last 10-15 years without issue.
You see this in a lot of industries for various reasons -- space hardware especially (in part due to rad-hard requirements but also due to programmer reluctance to move away from old architecture).
On top of that, the ECU has to be completely sealed from dust and moisture, so cooling fans are out, they can only use heat sinks. Anyone who's used a laptop in a country like the Philippines knows that when it gets hot, you start to see glitches and slowdown. You can't have that in a car's computer, because lives are at stake. It's pretty impressive that they can design a piece of electronics that can withstand that much abuse and expect it to last 10-15 years without issue.