The automotive industry is one of the most complex industries in the world, with multiple (and sometimes competing) factors affecting its performance, not the least of which include technological advancement, environmental regulations, and competition. As a result, manufacturers must ensure they deliver products that stay abreast of disruptive trends, meet regulatory requirements and consumer expectations, and remain cost-competitive.
While traditional manufacturing processes for physical car parts are well-established and supported by specialized tools, the same cannot be said for the complex software that now underpins modern vehicles. The evolution of automotive software development is still in its early stages. The costs associated with this development have now become a significant factor in meeting cost and quality goals, directly influencing new vehicle introduction schedules and consumer satisfaction. Interestingly, it’s the software vendors, not the automakers themselves, who often define the requirements for this critical software. This lack of coordination among multiple suppliers in software development introduces additional failure modes across the value chain, further complicating an already challenging supply chain management.
Blind spots in the budgeting process leave automakers exposed.
There is an ongoing revolution with vehicles moving from analog to digital, and further toward becoming software platforms, following a systems-of-systems approach, and finally becoming software-defined vehicles. However, the processes to support that transition are in the early stages of evolution, particularly with respect to understanding the cost, schedule and effort associated with these embedded software systems.
This software-defined vehicle approach means understanding the requirements for a single application and the need to understand the complexity of including robust cyber-security, safety, and over-air (OTA) features and communication between other applications. Combining all of this with the need to integrate disparate software applications into an ever-changing vehicle architecture contributes to a very complicated and expensive problem to address. Automakers are being forced towards becoming software factories.
The key to million-dollar savings.
It’s time to apply the same rigorous cost engineering to automotive software as to the physical components. OEMs meticulously save pennies on the nuts and bolts yet lack the capabilities to save millions in software development.
Cost control is king. Software development costs and schedules directly impact vehicle introduction and production. Additionally, mismanaging the software development and integration processes have been shown to contribute to product introduction delays and damaging product recalls.
The benefits of software cost engineering:
- Requirements Clarity: Gain a laser-sharp focus on your software needs.
- Control Your Destiny: Own your requirements definition instead of leaving it in the hands of vendors.
- Financial Success:
- Lower development costs
- Streamlined RFPs and vendor negotiations
- Faster time-to-market
- Reduced recall risks
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Software cost engineering—driving automotive success.
The automotive industry’s shift towards software-intensive vehicles demands innovative cost management strategies. Traditional cost engineering excels in managing the physical components, but the embedded software requires much more attention than ever. Software cost engineering fills this critical gap, enabling automakers to understand requirements, control development costs, and streamline vendor negotiations. This discipline is essential for an ever-changing environment towards software-defined vehicles to stay competitive and avoid costly delays or recalls.
Unison Cost Engineering provides the tools and expertise needed in this evolving field.