Strategies for managing automotive software development
August’s AEI magazine has a nice article entitled Managing for software success that covers the main strategies for managing automotive embedded software projects.
The article notes that automotive software is not only growing in size exponentially but is also growing in complexity and in level of integration - with functions that were previously separate now inter-operating.
Jim Kolhoff, Director of Software Engineering at GM Powertrain, describes some of the management trends that have allowed them to maintain a high-level of quality while offering significantly more functionality.
- Building individual applications by configuring software that has been developed to be reusable in a large number of such applications (i.e. using a Software Product Line approach),
- Using Model-Based Development (e.g. to verify algorithms),
- Using Code Generation tools and techniques (e.g. to reduce errors when mapping from architecture to design to code),
- Adopting industry-wide standards (e.g. AUTOSAR)
Robert Gee, Director of Strategy for Systems and Software for Motorola’s Automotive Business, notes that, “a well-conceived architecture designed for maximum reuse and extensibility” is the approach that must be followed for success.
The article also outlines how GM use a similar Software Product Line strategy to reduce cost and risk.
