Look at proefi for example.

Can't say an iPhone 3GS beat it in processing power and speed?
Is there any reason you couldn't build a connector and then run a jail broken iPhone as your standalone?

 

Lol, injector outputs, coil outputs, sensor inputs...etc etc

Processing power is the LEAST of your worries in an ecu

 

Just wait until your car stops responding and you have to wait for the battery to die before it can be reset too....GREAT IDEA.

Or this:

 

HA

 

LMAO, that is legit.. what a joke?

 

wait, Honda used apple's OS for its ecus?
:ididnotknowthat:

 

ROLF, I never really realized how much I hated keyboards until this.
Gotta love the onion network.

 

I LOL'd at "the aardvark admitted its fault"

 

I'm not surprised that a iPhone user thinks their phone can operate an engine.

 

Silly stuff, but I would like an iphone app for Hondata s300

 

^ this

 

Assuming you did have the appropriate connections to the vehicle via the dock connector, the problem is that the iOS isn't what you would call a "Real-Time" operating system. Everything that happens through the iPhone happens at the mercy of when the OS can get to it. Because truly, it doesn't matter if Angry Birds opens in 1 second or 800ms. Whereas everything that happens in an ECU is incredible time sensitive. Measuring the crank trigger wheel, predicting how many clock cycles to wait until starting to fire the coil/injector, releasing that line at exactly the right moment, etc are all things that matter down to the nanosecond. If the iPhone wasn't already running an operating system with its own task scheduler, then surely this would be possible. But even if it was jailbroken, you would have to bastardize the operating system's core scheduler so heavily that you jeopardize the stability of the phone. Not to mention that you'd be doing this with zero access to source code and zero documentation.

This is certainly one of those more trouble than it would be worth.

The path of least resistance less powerful yet dedicated processor where you have documentation and sample code for engine control using a myriad of timers designed for the task. Which is what you'll find engine control unit on the planet, OEM or aftermarket.