Summary form only given. The coming years video, high performing navigation systems, camera systems allowing 360 degree surround view, night vision, adaptive cruise control,‥‥. will be introduced in cars. These applications make that the bandwidth requirements increase dramatically and gigabit networks will have to be introduced. The dedicated low price, high reliability, high level of EMC immunity and last but not least extremely wide temperature range requirements necessitate the development of dedicated automotive datacom technologies. This paper overviews the possibilities of different candidate optical technologies versus the electrical technologies. A physical layer using VCSEL technology and using 200 um core plastic cladded silica fiber is shown to be the most promising optical datacom technology for automotive applications.