Posted on 06/14/2020 10:17:22 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Consider the octopus arms in my analogy to be different functionality segments and sub-systems in a vehicle. ... industry has grown up and real new innovation does not happen anymore, each of these sub-systems has been outsourced to suppliers who offer it better, faster, and with lower costs. 90% of all Volkswagen software today is outsourced. A true win-win situation. Welcome to the world of low vertical integration and low pace of innovation.
...all systems are working just in their own little box and do not communicate with a central computer or, to use my analogy again, the central brain of our octopus.
...undisturbed, until Tesla released its first BEV. Tesla was the first company to release a vehicle custom designed with high vertical integration around a central computer managing all core and side functionality. You cannot see that from the outside, and that’s why people do still not understand why a Tesla is so different. They do typically learn it in the moment they press the accelerator.
10 years later, the largest and best R&D department in the auto industry has revealed vehicles that are nowhere near the 2012 Tesla Model S.
...reasoning for that decision was simple: revenue and profits.
...“Even today, hardly a line of software code comes from us.”...
...They will not even understand the problem if a software engineer tries to explain it to them...
Run a job assessment with all top managers at VW, Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Daimler tomorrow and ask them to code a small game or a simple but working virus. If they are not able to do so, fire them immediately, because they are not fit for the job. How many will be left?
...With 12 years of age in 1984, Elon Musk programmed BlaStar...
(Excerpt) Read more at cleantechnica.com ...
And the octopus analogy was apt and fun.
Congratulations, dear auto managers, you just asked a vampire to manage your blood bank.
I don’t even care as long as my car is reasonably reliable and any bugs are not too annoying. As for these golf-carts, I’m not buying one—EVER. I’ll be dead before gas cars go away, so I don’t care about any of this EV crap.
Hopefully Volkswagen didn’t outsource the software engineering of critical control systems to $9/hr Indian scabs from HCI (an Indian body shop) like Boeing did. Use cheap Indian labor, people die.
Thanks, but I don’t want a PlayStation on wheels. I find all that stuff distracting and annoying. Just give the car enough electronics to keep it going. (Oh, and SatNav...:))
“As for these golf-carts, “
Obviously you are 50 years behind the times.
“I find all that stuff distracting and annoying”
AMEN to that. I can drive modern cars for years and a simple thing like raising or lowering the AC fan speed means I have to take my eyes off the road, scan and inspect the minuscule controls, decipher the cryptic pictograms, and then try to hit the right button with my fat fingers all the while the car is bouncing.
I think the pinnacle of auto user interface was our 1966 Pontiac Bonneville. All cars of that era had a few large knobs you could find by feel and you had tactile feedback telling you where the control was positioned. The Bonny had these HUGE air vents down by the floor on both the driver and passenger sides. You pulled a knob (that was attached to a wire cable) that opened and closed the air door. With it open, you had HUGE airflow through the cabin. There was nothing like it before or after.
“...(Oh, and SatNav...:))”
Stupid as F.
Software engineers and coders do not necessarily good managers make, nor vice versa.
Good managers would, however, support their best and brightest engineers and coders, and not sluff off the role to cheap Indian and Chinese coders. THOSE bean counting managers should be fired.
Software engineering is crucial in cars today. I had an older Audi that had rack and pinion steering and handled phenomenally. Then I bought an Audi with fully electronic steering, and it was horrible. It took them some time, but they eventually came up with some software fixes that make it better. The bottom line, though, is that with everything being electronically controlled, software engineering in a car has become very important.
Try renting a car at a big city airport, especially on a rainy night, as you try to:
A. Turn on the headlights
B. Turn on the wipers
C. Navigate out of the parking lot
d. And your phone just got a signal so NOW it tells you to make a U-turn because you just missed it coming out of the three floors below ground deck.
LOL. Yep. Have to sit in the car 10 - 15 minutes to figure out the controls. Often I’m absolutely unable to figure something out and have to pull out the manual or ask one of the rental company people. Add another few minutes to make the system recognize your Bluetooth phone.
I bought a new Audi A5 in the past year (replacing a 13-year old Audi TT, which I considered irreplaceable). The wife did all research and opt’ed for the various option. Bluntly, she’d say that it was opt’ed to ‘reach the moon’.
So about two months after delivery, we did this long extended day drive. I’ve figured enough of the GPS unit (somewhat complicated)...set the course, and we left. About 25 minutes into the drive, I came to note that it (the car) was communicating via the wife’s smart-phone...to ‘Audi-Central’. Suddenly it came up via the GPS unit and said an accident had occurred at some location up ahead...wouldn’t I accept an added route (giving me the mileage and extra time)?
The car/central network knew precisely where I was, and the traffic situation ahead. It calculated the improved route.
To please note...I refused the advice and continued on with my original plan.
“Software engineers and coders do not necessarily good managers make, nor vice versa.”
Not my line of work, but my thinking is they need a solid understanding of what they are producing, not simply chasing numbers on a progress chart.
I have two cousins that started as engineers, one software the other hardware, and moved into management.
Both had long and succe$$ful careers as upper-level managers.
Rumor has it, many managers are simply spreadsheet jockeys that put on a good presentation?
“I had an older Audi that had rack and pinion steering and handled phenomenally. Then I bought an Audi with fully electronic steering, and it was horrible”
Which model?
All I see is rack and pinion.
The Car Manufacturers have moved from Hydraulic Power Steering to Electric Power Steering, a big improvement.
We now have Electric Fuel Pumps, Oil Pumps (used in Dry Sump systems like my last and upcoming ordered Corvette) and Water Pumps.
Now they are working on Electric “pre” Turbos that spin up avoiding Turbo Lag before the Exhaust gets enough velocity to do the Job.
>>>To please note...I refused the advice and continued on with my original plan<<<
Being a Conservative in today’s crazy world, we are all contrarians.
It’s an A4. I may have designated it incorrectly, but in about 2012 Audi started putting what they call “Dynamic Adaptive Steering” into the A4s and some other models. This actually alters the steering ratio in accordance with the speed you’re going. Sounds cool, but in reality it leads to a spongy type of steering that sometimes makes you feel like it is YOU who is doing the dynamic adapting. Just another example of how ‘better’ can be the enemy of good.
I can care less about EV cars too. BMW has one out that screams gay.
“This actually alters the steering ratio in accordance with the speed you’re going. “
It also works as part of the stability control system.
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