ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 4
FROM LEFT: SAE/BILL VISNIC; ELEKTROBIT
Software-defined...
Headache?
Panelists for the
" Moving Towards a
Software-Defined
Vehicle " session at the
WCX 2023 conference
in Detroit.
top " of the base software in a process an OEM or
Tier 1 supplier can guide to produce more discrete
requirements. " Nobody ever bought a car for it's
operating system, " quipped Jones in supporting
the notion that much of the work of software
development can and should be collaborative
because so much is unseen by vehicle consumers.
" Software transformation is being managed with
a hardware perspective, " agreed Glen De Vos, SVP,
transformation & special programs at Aptiv. He said
there is much to be learned from how industries
such as telecommunications and aerospace/defense
embraced software development and deployment.
Learn from mistakes, leverage what knowledge
and existing work already is available - and nurture
software developers as partners, added Elektrobit's
Anhalt. " It goes to collaborations, " said William
Foy, director, Automotive Solutions for Amazon.
Speed and standards
Apart from ripping up the top-down development
approaches of the past, effective processes for
software-defined vehicles have to change because,
some panelists insisted, the old ways simply are
too slow. Moreover, the collaborations that have
helped in the past - development of standards,
for one - also are inherently plodding, consensuscentric
models that mitigate against the speed that
customers of software-driven products demand.
Ford's Jones suggests one approach is to view
software development as little different from how
vehicle development occurred in the middle of the
last century, when the factory was the focus of
the process. " What is the equivalent of a software
factory, " he asked rhetorically. He said that a similar,
4 DECEMBER 2023
Elektrobit CEO
Maria Anhalt
estimates that
60% of vehicle
software is
invisible to
vehicle owners.
automation-intensive mindset would help to bring
efficiency - and speed - to software development.
Aptiv's De Vos said that the partnering
relationships most of the experts recommended
to help create a better end product also serve
to improve the software-development speed.
" We need to partner, without trying to grow
organically, " he stressed. " It takes too much time. "
Standards can be important to aiding the softwarecreation
process, De Vos said, but " standards take
time. " Moreover, added Stellantis' Rober, " Nobody
can agree on a standard. " Ford's Jones added that a
patchwork of alliances between OEMs and software
developers hasn't helped to create consensusbased
standards or an open-source ecosystem
- tools that once developed are generally agreed
to reduce future development time and cost.
However, even open-source agreements aren't
a panacea, said Elektrobit's Anhalt. She noted that
more open-source projects have failed than have
succeeded. And Rober added that in individual
companies' haste to gain competitive advantage,
" We never allow for a standard to change and grow. "
Despite the session panelists' agreement
that the auto industry is in the early days of a
transformation that's required if the softwaredriven
vehicle is to fulfill its promises, most
expressed optimism that the change will happen
- and happen for the better. " We're at a really
interesting point in our industry, " said De Vos.
It'll be exciting to see how this plays out. "
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - Cov1
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - Cov2
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 1
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 2
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 3
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 4
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 5
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 6
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 7
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 8
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 9
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 10
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 11
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 12
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 13
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 14
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 15
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 16
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 17
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 18
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 19
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 20
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 21
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 22
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 23
ADAS/Connected Car Special Report - December 2023 - 24
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