How Software Is Eating the Car The trend toward self-driving and electric vehicles will add hundreds of millions of lines of code to cars. Can the auto industry cope?

ieee ^

[algore]

Ten years ago, only premium cars contained 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked throughout the body of a car, executing 100 million lines of code or more.

Today, high-end cars like the BMW 7-series with advanced technology like advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) may contain 150 ECUs or more, while pick-up trucks like Ford’s F-150 top 150 million lines of code.

Even low-end vehicles are quickly approaching 100 ECUs and 100 million of lines of code as more features that were once considered luxury options, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking, are becoming standard.

Additional safety features that have been mandated since 2010 like electronic stability control, backup cameras, and automatic emergency calling (eCall) in the EU, as well as more stringent emission standards that ICE vehicles can only meet using yet more innovative electronics and software, have further driven ECU and software proliferation.

Consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited estimates that as of 2017, some 40% of the cost of a new car can be attributed to semiconductor-based electronic systems, a cost doubling since 2007.

It estimates this total will approach 50% by 2030. The company further predicts that each new car today has about $600 worth of semiconductors packed into it, consisting of up to 3,000 chips of all types.

“The amount of software written to detect misbehavior to ensure quality and safety is increasing,” says Nico Hartmann, Vice President of ZF’s Software Solutions & Global Software Center at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive components.

Where perhaps a third of an ECU’s software was dedicated to ensuring quality operations ten years ago, it is now often more than half or more, especially in safety critical systems, Hartmann states.

[algore]

Imagine if cars were connected to the internet, and the systems were vulnerable to ransomware, or could be remotely controlled.

[ocrp1982]

Speaking of the new F-150. The all-new E version has been tested by several car/truck testing companies. The result? Under load the truck gets about 80 miles on a FULL CHARGE.
From depleted battery to fully charged battery is 14 HOURS.
So, I buy this thing. I want to tow my 35’ boat to my favorite fishing spot two states away. I travel 80 miles. The truck dies. If I’m very fortunate it dies right next to a charging station. A Miracle!!! I wait 14 HOURS to fully charge my truck. Travel 80 miles and hope for another MIRACLE. It dies right next to another charging station.
I finally arrive at my destination with my boat. Vacation over! I turn around and head home. Back to work. My boat is in great shape. It never touched the water. I love my EF-150!!!

[rllngrk33]

No thanks, I’ll keep my old 1999-2007 cars and truck until I can’t fix them myself anymore. Then I’ll pay someone to fix them.

[kaehurowing]

All these computer programs make cars crap. So on my Honda Fit one day the A/C goes out. I can tell the A/C is still working, it’s just the electric blower fan that crapped out. So I go to my friendly Honda servicer and they tell me they have to replace the computer component that runs the fan. That cost almost a thousand dollars. Unfortunately it happened in the middle of summer so I really didn’t have any choice, especially because since the pandemic we have crazy people attacking you in your car unless you have the doors locked and the windows closed tight.

[MarineBrat]

If builders built buildings the way that programmers write software, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. This is true for automobiles as well.

[algore]

Not exactly correct on charging times,

https://insideevs.com/news/508674/battery-capacity-ford-f150-lightning/

[doorgunner69]

Hey! The UAW is chock full of qualified software engineers.

Quality code too! Just look at all those super quality GM and Chisler POS.

[doorgunner69]

Today, high-end cars like the BMW 7-series with advanced technology like advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) may contain 150 ECUs or more

And I see flat bed wreckers taking them beck to the local BMW dealer on a regular basis. You have to be a masochist or incurable attention seeker to spend that much $$ for an unreliable pinball machine.

[ocrp1982]

An EV proponent site is not exactly an unbiased opinion. As I stated several Car and Truck Mags have actually tested the vehicle under load. The stats I cited are not mine. Those stats are theirs under real-world near full load towing and charging. The results were very bad. The Mags were disappointed themselves. They wanted much better results as most of their writers are Libs.

[algore]

I have a bmw 7 series, it kind of fell into my lap. took me a while to get everything working properly, only thing left is to recharge the R12

But I like it, and it even smokes the little ricer car to their dismay

[algore]

I don’t doubt the range measurements, but at a dc charging station it will take around an hour.

[llevrok]

We are driving smart phones, not cars, these days. Getting from point A to B is secondary.

[ocrp1982]

Not going to argue with you. I’m simply reporting what several Car and Truck Mags that have evaluated the truck have written. If you doubt their results. Buy one.

[Mr Radical]

Imagine if cars were connected to the internet, and the systems were vulnerable to ransomware, or could be remotely controlled.
I think you left off the /s tag?

A murderer (the cross-bow killer) was nabbed here in the UK recently because his car transmitted every move back to the manufactuer: where it was; when the doors and windows were opened and closed; the setting of the driver's electric seat etc etc...

I also recall, there was a joke along the lines of, If your car was like Windows OS then you'd have to reboot every 10 miles

BTW I still drive a 1990s Volvo. In all those years, the only $$$$ component to fail has been the rear computer. The dealer hooked it up to the interweb and Volvo in Sweden upgraded the operating system to bypass the faulty sensor, without changing the hardware!

[algore]

No joke... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Automotive

I knew the guy who headed that up..

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Never mind the industry - - Can DRIVERS cope with all this software?

Dear friend bought a nearly-new 2019 Mercedes SUV in January. She’s already got it for sale. Just turning the wipers on takes a freakin’ Masters in Computer Science. The climate control system somehow got so fouled up that she had 100% maximum heat, or none. I could go on, and on, and on.....

Read the manual? HAH! To begin with it’s 650 pages, and is written in geek-speek. Not to mention that what’s in the CAR doesn’t even match the manual I downloaded from the Mercedes site so I could provide phone support.

So the $60,000 “Benz” is parked, and she’s using her old 2002 Ford Explorer as her daily driver.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

For myself I’m driving a 2006 Odyssey and a 2009 Explorer. I’m not happy with some of the idiot things the Explorer does in the name of “driver safety”, but neither it nor the Honda are tracking me everywhere I go.

At this point my dream car would be my old 89 Volvo 244, which I now wish I’d never sold.

[Beagle8U]

“... but at a dc charging station it will take around an hour.”

How many people have one of them at home? Cost?

When you get down to it, EV cars are just exploding golf carts.

[Texas Fossil]

I am sick of seeing computers applied to applications that are not only stupid but will never work properly. NEVER.

Now the focus is on monitoring humans, 24/7 so they can be run like robots.

Forget that crap. I refuse to buy in.

[Texas Fossil]

Woodpecker

Bump