Adaptive damping

The first European user of adaptive damping were Lancia in 1987 on their Thema 8.32 followed by BMW in 1988, both were automatic systems with selectable settings, changed by signals from an Accelerometer, Lancia's in the boot , BMW's under the bonnet. Both had a manual over-ride and worked a solenoid operated bypass valves in the boge adjustable dampers. Additional system parameters were fed from the steering wheel, road speed,  brake pressure to control dive, engine speed to control squat

Currently Ferrari and Maserati are the keenest users of adaptive damping. The formers Mondial T, F355, 456GT, 550M, 360M and the latter's Shamal, Quattroporte and 3200GT all employed electronic adjustable dampers in the suspensions. Most of the time, the damper is in the  "soft" setting to benefit ride comfort. At more advance speeds or maneuvering  the dampers start to change, they change to "stiff" mode for stable handling and minimization of body roll.

The mechanism is usually very simple. By varying the total area of valves area within the shock absorber, different rates of damping can be obtained. Therefore the shock absorber alone is able to implement the adaptive damping.
   

Ferrari's earliest system was launched in Mondial T. It required the driver to select the rate of damping from amongst 3 settings - soft, intermediate and hard. Later, in 456GT and F355's systems, computer decided the setting automatically. Sensors were employed to measure the longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, speed, brake pressure, load and steering angle. Via analyzing these data, the computer knew the driver's intention - to go fast or to travel leisurely. Then it decide the most suitable damper setting.

The effectiveness is quite limited. 

Firstly, it can just vary the damping rate, not the spring rate and anti-roll bar function. 

Secondly, individual wheels or axles cannot be set according to need. All four wheels always run on the same damping setting. 

Thirdly, it seems that until now all the designs still react slowly, therefore they are employed to deal with the changing driving style (which is more consistent) rather than the change of road condition (which is fast-changing and unpredictable).

Other than these flash super sportsters,  Adaptive damping has also become popular on 4*4 of roaders. Their needs are similar but more extreme then the sports cars.

For offroad work you require very soft pliant suspension, like the early discovery's. The down side is on the road, where this now translates to a car which behaves like a big wobbly jelly.  Many offroaders have answered this with adjustable damping, usually manually set this give light/soft  damping for offroad use , whilst giving a stiffer setting for road use to try and keep body roll in check.