The emergence of electric cars has been one of the most striking aspects of the automotive industry in recent years. These vehicles have a different technology to traditional fossil fuel vehicles, and are often presented by manufacturers as " software-definedvehicles", an expression intended to illustrate the innovative technology of these vehicles.
These vehicles are highly dependent on software and their problem is that they can bebuggy, especially in the early versions. Take Apple, whose iPhone15 overheating problems were caused by software bugs. There's no hiding it: softwarebugs can cause serious problems, and if the software is complex, identifying and correcting the problems can be complicated.
Although demand for all-electric vehicles is increasing due to competitive superiority and incentives from some governments, several manufacturers (including GM, Volkswagen and Volvo) are evaluating and reviewing their development process. GM, for example, has postponed production of its electric trucks in the United States. Volvo has postponed deliveries of its new EX30 due to software"challenges". As the saying goes: prevention is better than cure.
It's a common belief among consumers that you shouldn't buy a car in the first year after its launch, and it's important to give manufacturers time to correct the problems that inevitably arise in any vehicle in the early days after its launch, and with technological developments, manufacturers have perfected and automated their manufacturing processes, testing all components and their integration.
When it comes to software, however, things are different: The complexity of the code, the difficulties in defining its requirements, the specificities of each vehicle, the need to recruit people with the right skills, the importance of defining appropriate software development and testing processes are some of the many problems faced by electric vehicle manufacturers.
Some manufacturers have come to recognize that software development was not within their area of expertise. And so today we see several manufacturers making a huge effort in this area, recruiting specialists in software development and testing to help them understand and properly integrate software into their vehicles.
The original article via PopSci can be read here.
