Debunking Common Myths in Automotive Industry: Bridging the Gap Between R&D and Production
Working for a company that designs and manufactures electric vehicles, electronic components for their assembly and software and taking a management role in the Program delivery process, I encountered a problem that might appear to be not obvious at first glance: engineers focused on functional design and user experience often completely lose sight of the requirements that are born in connection with the need for the subsequent production of systems, especially mass production. The main misconception is that engineers believe that a well-executed functional design determines the success of a device or software system project. In fact, everything is much more complicated.
In this article, I will take a detailed look at the aspects that need to be considered throughout the entire life cycle of a project (from research and development to production), as well as ways to solve problems that arise in the process.
A Lesson from the Automotive Industry: A Note to HW Engineers
The company in question had a framework, following which engineers built system designs and produced prototypes. After that, they validated the design based on testing the created prototypes. Per this framework, management, and the engineers themselves, believed that the work they had done up to the end of design validation was 90% of the entire project. However, during the transition to production, it turned out that there are still several integral components. These factors were:
Search for a supplier for production. All suppliers have already developed technologies and toolings used. This means that not every design can flow into the production stage in the case of every supplier — often the design has to be significantly altered for each manufacturer. In addition, the supplier that is ready to produce devices according to your design can be loaded with work for several years in advance.
Cost and possibility of mass production. Some designs are not suitable for mass production or have a huge production cost: for example, due to the inability to provide the guaranteed iterability and quality of the device at the testing stage at the end of the line. If each device requires manual labour to validate, it is extremely expensive or simply impossible to produce hundreds of thousands of such devices.
Cost and lead time of tooling for production. For some designs, tooling can be prohibitively expensive due to the use of rare materials in the vehicle or the need to resort to emergency production safety measures. Sometimes the time to create tooling is so long that the production of a device becomes meaningless since the whole process does not fall into the timelines for entering the market.
Lead time and availability of used components and materials. For instance, when using rare metals in the device, it can significantly increase the time to start production due to the lack of material. Similarly, for some semiconductor components, the lead time can be as long as several years.
Device marking. This aspect is often overlooked, but labelling is an integral part of the design. Lack of proper labelling to ensure the traceability of the device and all its internal components throughout the entire life cycle can lead to the complete impossibility of using the device in the automotive industry. In development, this is unfortunately often lost sight of.
Serviceability of devices. Similar to the previous point, the cost of repairing or replacing a device is often not taken into account. Ultimately, in this scenario, either over-complication (or overengineering) occurs (and the engineer tries to make the device last forever), or the cost of repair and replacement can be very high, which will defeat the commercial sense of the device.
Scrap rate, or indicator used by manufacturers to measure product quality. The production of some designs is possible only with a large number of defective items due to the impossibility of establishing automated production with a guaranteed result for certain components. In this case, the cost of the device must be added to the cost of all devices that were scrapped at the production stage.
Compliance of design with cybersecurity requirements and legal requirements of the region of distribution, as well as compliance of devices with legal requirements for their behaviour inside the systems of the assembled vehicle during the validation of the vehicle itself. In this sense, it is important to understand that the customers themselves are not always able to specify safety requirements at the beginning of the vehicle design.
As a result, the timeline and the cost of the project of creating a device increases by two, and sometimes even three times, which leads to critical consequences for the project, the program and the company as a whole, up to the likelihood of disruption of programs and bankruptcy of the company.
A Lesson from the Automotive Industry 2.0: A Note to SW Engineers
There are also blind spots in the field of work of SW engineers, which are worth paying attention to. Thus, similar to the creation of components, the requirements of Functional Safety and Cyber Security often remain completely overlooked. The formation of such requirements and their implementation, as a rule, is postponed to a later stage. However, this leads to the fact that a significant part of the previously created software is subject to complete redevelopment since the implementation of such requirements demands a revision of the software architecture. In some cases, it also requires a revision of the architecture of the devices on which this software operates, or even the architecture of the entire vehicle. This is more relevant for vehicles based on the 4th and 5th generations of vehicle architectures.
In addition, the need for maintenance and software updates on vehicles already sold is not taken into account. The moment of updating is critical not only in terms of user experience, but also in terms of security. Considering the need to update the software on hundreds of thousands of vehicles in operation, this aspect can be considered the most critical for success. However, it is also the most underestimated aspect at the start of development in terms of cost and importance to the success of the entire company.
Overcoming Challenges in the Transition from R&D to Production in the Automotive Industry
Now the question arises: how to avoid such flaws in the development and production process?
Early involvement of Functional Security and Cybersecurity engineers along with after-sales service specialists in the creation process is one of the keys to the solution.
Functional and Cyber Security must be considered in relation to the entire vehicle with on-board devices: considering the components separately leads either to overengineering and a significant increase in the cost of the device, or to the appearance of gaps that are not covered either at the vehicle system level or at the device level.
Finally, the legitimate solution to the problem is, of course, to consider the design of the vehicle in relation to the design of devices — in other words, the formation of synergy between hardware and software.
Smooth Transition Strategies: A Guide for Managers
To ensure proper synergy, it is necessary to support this at the managerial level. Here are some tips for managers:
Consider the hardware and software design process from the collection of needs to the end of a device or system's life cycle (in other words, to disposal or decommissioning). Skipping stages is possible, but must occur reasonably and consistently, with an assessment of the risks and consequences.
Always look at the process of creating software and hardware not only from an engineering point of view, but also from a financial point of view. After all, the creation of systems and software is aimed, as a rule, at making a profit for a business.
If someone in the team says something is impossible, always listen to that point of view and try to understand the logic behind it. If you disagree, then try to convince the employee of the opposite, and do not complain about the lack of ambition. Hearing a negative opinion at the right time can save you hundreds of millions of dollars, even if you don't like the opinion, or if it goes against the company's goals.
So, by studying the example of processes in the automotive industry, we have identified the main aspects that need to be considered for the successful completion of the project from the point of initial research to the release of the product. Keeping these factors in mind, as well as the early involvement of security and after-sales specialists and the formation of a proactive interaction between HW and SW engineers, will help both close the gap between the two critical stages of product development and avoid serious consequences for the company.