Microsystems are an important factor that contribute to an automobile model's success. To meet the customer's desire for safety, convenience and vehicle economy, and to satisfy environmental standards, microsystems are the critical factor. Microsystems applications (MST) have already resulted in improved performance and better value for money. But the advances implemented reveal only the beginning of a revolution in the vehicle sector, which aims at a complete transition from the mechanically driven automobile system to a mechanically based but ICT-driven system. The selected contributions from "AMAA 2003" treat safety (both preventive and protective), power train (online measurement and control of engine and transmission subsystems), comfort and HMI (systems to enhance the comfort of passengers and human machine interface issues), and networked Vehicle (all aspects of intra car systems and ambient communication networks). Selected proceedings for the Seventh Conference on Microsystems in the Automotive Sector, a regular event now with an increasing number of participants on a modern and promising field taking place in Berlin in May 2003.
