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i was talking to my friend and he was talkign about fiber optics being in cars now
including replacing the steering column... what do u guys think about it?

i think they are in liek the new lux cars

 
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you mean replacing the mechanical movement of the steering column with electronics? thats not necesarily fiber optic..in most cases its just a sensor that leads to a gear box which does the movement with plain 'ole regular wires.

 
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It's called drive by wire I think. It's based on the way fighter pilots "steer" their planes. I saw a Mercedes SL500 last year with it. It has 2 "joysticks," one on either side of the driver. Pretty cool. Only thing is , how would you steer the car if the computer failed for some reason? i think thats why you still need a mechanical means of steering the car.

 
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Plus.... Have you ever drivin an older luxury car that had power steering that was WAY too overassisted. Theres no feel in the steering. It would take a complicated computer just to artificialy give you a sense of force feedback.

Its a complete waste of technology in my opinion. Job #1 is to automate cars so they can drive by themselves. If we can get that happening on a massive scale, it would save thousands of lives, and we would be able to have far less traffic problems. The technology will be practical before the end of the decade Im sure.