Why did software develop such an appetite for our mobile vehicles - and why is it worthwhile for OEMs to serve a solid meal rather than fast food? Leading-edge application lifecycle management is essential in the automotive industry today. Therefore, in this article series, I will define ACES ALM before detailing the challenges in this area and introducing the ACES ALM business capability model in subsequent posts. If you are involved in shaping processes, methods, tools or organization (PMTO) for automotive software, this is for you. If you are in a hurry and don’t want to wait for the article series, please contact me directly.
What is ACES ALM?
Software for autonomous, connected, electric, or shared functionalities is not your typical enterprise application. An accounting system or common office software has no brakes that can fail. On the highway, it is difficult to simply open the task manager to shut down an annoying process. In-Car software is safety-critical, real-time embedded software running on electronic control units (ECU) in the vehicle. The following picture provides an overview of ACES software:
ACES is short for Autonomous / Automated, Connected, Electric, and Shared. The acronym ACES describes four major strategic pillars of automotive companies, especially OEMs. All four elements are part of the overall digitalization trend and require major innovations in IT hardware and software.
ALM is short for Application Lifecycle Management. As a process, ALM is about managing software from its initial conception, through the development and testing phase and ongoing support to its end of life. ALM tools provide support for activities such as software planning, requirements management, architecture design, software development, build, integration, test, deployment, operations and maintenance.
Combine the two and you get ACES ALM: ALM for ACES software.
And why is software eating my car?
More than 10 years ago, entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen famously published an essay in Wall Street Journal on “Why software is eating the world”. The automotive industry has come to realize the truth behind statements such as “Software is also eating much of the value chain of industries that are widely viewed as primarily existing in the physical world.”
As a case in point, Volkswagen Group in 2019 has established CARIAD to increase the workshare of VW in ACES software from currently 10 - 15 % to 60 % – with currently more than 5.000 people working on it. While traditional OEMs are shifting resources to the software world, other players such as Tesla (my article on product development at Tesla) and Alphabet-owned Waymo start on a green field with a Silicon Valley mindset.
The goal of both approaches is to combine a physical product with digital software. The success of this "phygital" convergence thus becomes a decisive competitive factor. Both established automakers and (not so) new players must therefore wisely combine the ingredients for a reliable, functional and safe ACES ALM so that vehicles as a finished product are subsequently desirable for the end customer.
Challenges? Opportunities!
To make ACES ALM a success, automakers must therefore keep an eye on a wide variety of aspects and fields, which can be divided into four clusters.
- First, there are the ACES engineering business drivers, i.e. the fundamental technical interaction between software and hardware and their mutually dependent development including data-driven engineering.
- Second, the right processes and methods are needed to help with such development - from model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to variant and configuration management to scaled agile.
- Third, this technical-methodological complex is encompassed by regulatory requirements for hardware and software in vehicles, be it Automotive SPICE, cybersecurity or functional safety.
- Fourth and finally, there is alignment with the company-wide IT strategy.
I will discuss all four of these areas of challenge - as well as the opportunities they present - in the next article in this series. Stay tuned!
Note: this is a cross-post from my LinkeIn article
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