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Actually the Detroit three have worked together for several years on various technologies. (...Example: for many years, most manufacturers used 'Saginaw Steering Gear's' Power steering units - owned at the time by GM....)
As fuel economy standards march toward 56mpg by the early 20s, you'll see more and more speeds in automatic transmissions - and other sorts of technology to get us there.
While I cannot speak for other manufacturers, I do know that our ECMs 'learn' from your driving. The early 6 speed automatics did quite a bit of searching - and I would find myself doing the battery disconnect on some of my company cars because my driving is so varied. I'm finding that the newer transmissions have had substantially more algorithm work - and that they're quite responsive.
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