To Meet Consumer Demand, Automakers Must Double Down on Agile Development

For years, scores of Silicon Valley doomsayers predicted digital technology would lead to massive disruption within the auto industry and bring the sector to its knees. But by embracing and investing in new technologies, automakers have to a large extent disrupted themselves. 

Today, even the most casual observer can see that the strategy has paid off. 

Demand for vehicles loaded with the most technologically advanced features is white-hot. Autonomous and electric vehicles are all the rage. Modern automobiles are often compared today to data centers on wheels. That’s not hyperbole. At Western Digital, my employer, we estimate that more lines of software code exist in automobiles today than in fighter jets. 

And all of this has brought the industry to a critical juncture. 

To keep pace with the growing demand for increasingly sophisticated vehicles, with more and more artificial intelligence embedded into them, the industry must implement newer methods and systems into their design and manufacturing practices — especially for electronics. 

In 2019, the global connected-car market was valued at $63.03 billion, according to Allied Market Research. By 2027, the value is expected to surpass $225 billion. 

The time has come for the automotive industry to expand their adoption of the agile development process

The Stakes Are High

The agile development process began 20-years ago as a set of values and practices for creating software. Some of the core agile principles include creating numerous product iterations, continual communication between developers and customers, constant evaluation of progress and an embrace of changing requirements.

In the same way that the agile approach contributed to creating efficiencies in software development and the many other industries that borrowed its philosophy, it will assist automakers in improving testing and design. This will hasten access to the components that automakers need and enable them to bring cars with advanced technologies to market more quickly. 

As agile practices drive complexity and inefficiency out of the manufacturing process, development time accelerates, and leads to cost savings. 

Perhaps most importantly, agile workflows — like the name suggests —enable manufacturers to navigate sharp market fluctuations like a sleek Formula 1 race car instead of a bulky 18-wheeler. 

The companies that acquire the most skill with agile processes and do it before the competition are sure to acquire competitive advantages, writes Tom Coughlin, a respected data storage analyst, in a recently published white paper. According to Coughlin, some of the reasons for that include:

• Agile-adopting manufacturers will use parts more in tune with mainstream semiconductor products.
• Because more processes occur simultaneously, the work of carmakers becomes more efficient. 
• When the pace of production increases, costs fall, and profits rise.

Car Development is Too Plodding

Because software and semiconductors are the backbone of the top auto technologies — car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication, self-driving vehicles and the memory and storage features supporting them all — improving the ways these components are developed is critical. 

Memory integrated circuits (IC) and sensors will be among the top seven highest volume automotive semiconductor categories with over one billion units used annually, according to Coughlin. 

But as it stands now, the auto industry’s ability to develop chips and software is too often too plodding. 

In a report last year, analysts from McKinsey & Co., wrote: “As the landscape shifts, automakers that lack sufficient software capabilities will face major risks, including start-of-production (SOP) delays and budget overruns.”

Agile Practices Are the Natural Next Step

Among the hallmarks of the agile process is the simultaneous performing of important developmental tasks. This contrasts with some alternative processes, which, for example, perform tests only when product development is completed. 

That’s too slow for an agile process, which favors testing during most of the development lifecycle with the help of every person on the team. 

An agile process also favors receiving feedback from all the stakeholders, including customers. An integral part of that is the forming of feedback loops at numerous development stages to ensure the team builds exactly what customers want. 

This enables developers very early in the process to identify problems and anticipate how advancements to semiconductors, sensors and data storage technology might enhance the product.
 
Robust feedback mechanisms become the connective tissue that aligns automakers and electronic component suppliers. 

Chips, AI, and Digital Twins

In recent months, manufacturers have attempted to build stronger ties to semiconductor suppliers. Ford announced in November that it had struck a partnership with GlobalFoundries, the semiconductor manufacturer.  

The deal not only boosts Ford’s ability to access semiconductors made by GlobalFoundries, now one of Ford’s Tier 1 suppliers, but the partnership also serves as an example of how smart carmakers are beginning to place a high premium on leveraging modern semiconductor processes.  

Then there’s artificial intelligence (AI), which has begun to play an important role in transforming car manufacturing. AI in the form of machine learning enables digital twin technology, the process of creating a virtual model of a physical object or system. 

Sensors connected to the object or system in question help provide real-time data about their condition or performance and enable the model to be updated in real time. With the help of simulations, tests can be conducted virtually, and decisions made about the system or object without the need of time consuming and costly physical tests.  

Carmakers Need a Technology-Driven Mentality

Another benefit of the agile process is that it could help instill a new mentality regarding manufacturing and development. 

Automobile manufacturing is more than a century old but to stay relevant, carmakers must adopt a more technology-driven mindset, building on its valuable past and lessons learned, while borrowing some ideas from new automotive entrants in the market. 

While still respecting safety and quality requirements, the automotive business needs to integrate more agile workflows into certifying, testing and approving the electronics that support modern automobiles.  

Learn more in the whitepaper written by Tom Coughlin, titled The Case for Agile Workflows in the Auto Industry.  

As Western Digital’s Automotive Segment Director, Russell is responsible for the global go-to-market and product strategies for the automotive market.  Previously, he was Western Digital’s Surveillance and Connected Home marketing director, and before that he was responsible for the automotive business in Korea and Japan.