KITT is an AI (artificial intelligence ) microprocessor installed in a highly advanced, ultra-mobile, robot disguised as a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
The original full name stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand, in the updated 2008 seriesKITT stands for Knight Industries Three Thousand.
In the back story of Kinight Rider, KITT was said to have been designed by the late Wilton Knight, a brilliant but eccentric billionaire and founder of the Foundation for Law and Government, or FLAG and its parent Knight Industries. KITT's main cybernetic processor was first installed in a mainframe computer used by the United States government in Washington D.C. However, Wilton saw better use for "him" as a major asset in FLAG's crusade against crime and the system was installed in a vehicle. KITT was in fact the second vehicle built by Knight Industries with artificial intelligence. His predecessor was KARR, the Knight Automated Roving Robot. KARR was programmed for self-preservation, but this proved to be dangerous to the Foundation's interests. KARR was later deactivated and placed in storage while KITT was given to his new operator, Michael Knight (the new identity of Michael Long).
Unlike KARR, KITT is programmed primarily to protect Michael at all cost as well as all human life (a reference to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics). This is made clear in the pilot episode where Michael asks Devon Miles if KITT will protect anyone driving it. Devon's answer is that KITT's primary function is the preservation of human life, and Michael's in particular.
KITT has an incredible number of special features, chief amongst which is the ability to speak, a turbo charge which can take the car from 0-60 mph is 2 seconds, a molecular bonded shell which makes it pretty well protects him from almost all forms of conventional firearms and explosive devices.
But probably KITT's most apparent feature is his front scan bar called the Anamorphic Equalizer. The device is a fiber-optic array of electronic eyes. The scanner can see in all visual wavelengths as well as X-Ray and infrared. When KITT's surveillance mode is active, the bar will light up and make an ominous swooping sound as it panned left and right, this resembles the optic sensor of a Cylon Centurion from another show created by Glen Larson, Battlestar Galactica, something carried through to the modern show. The scan bar is also KITT's most vulnerable area.
KITT will go down in history as one of the most famous TV characters of all time.