What are OEMs doing in the field of software architecture?

A colleague from Ford in Dearborn asked me if I had any information on activities at other OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the area of software architecture. I did a quick search in my Zotero database and arrived at the following list. Some are available on-line, use Google Scholar to find.

1. F. Fabbrini, M. Fusani, G. Lami, and E. Sivera, “Software Engineering in the European Automotive Industry: Achievements and Challenges,” Computer Software and Applications, 2008. COMPSAC '08. 32nd Annual IEEE International, 2008, pp. 1039-1044
   Paper from Fiat


2. P. Giusto, S. Kanajan, C. Pinello, and M. Chiodo, “A Conceptual Data Model for the Architecture Exploration of Automotive Distributed Embedded Architectures,” Information Reuse and Integration, 2007. IRI 2007. IEEE International Conference on, 2007, pp. 582-587.
   Paper from General Motors


3. K. Grimm, “Software technology in an automotive company: major challenges,” Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Software Engineering, Portland, Oregon: IEEE Computer Society, 2003, pp. 498-503.
   Paper from Daimler


4. Hans Grönniger, Jochen Hartmann, Holger Krahn, Stefan Kriebel, Lutz Rothhardt, and Bernhard Rumpe, “View-Centric Modeling of Automotive Logical Architectures,” TU Braunschweig, 2008.
   Paper from BMW


5. G. Reichart and M. Haneberg, “Key Drivers for a Future System Architecture in Vehicles,” Proc. Convergence 2004, Detroit, MI, USA: SAE, 2004.
   Paper from BMW


6. C. Tischer, A. Muller, M. Ketterer, and L. Geyer, “Why does it take that long? Establishing Product Lines in the Automotive Domain,” Software Product Line Conference, 2007. SPLC 2007. 11th International, 2007, pp. 269-274.
   Experience paper from Bosch engine management systems


7. S. Voget, “Future Trends in Software Architectures for Automotive Systems,” Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications 2003, Springer, 2003, pp. 457-469.
   Paper from Bosch


8. K. Nishikawa and K. Kajio, “TOYOTA Electronic Architecture and AUTOSAR Pilot,” Proc. SAE World Congress, Detroit, MI, USA: SAE, 2007.
   Paper from Toyota


9. D. Selin et al., “A Reference Architecture for Infotainment Systems,” Proc. Convergence 2004, Detroit, MI, USA: SAE, 2006, Document Number: 2006-21-0013
   Experience paper from Volvo Car Corporation


10. R. McGee, “Managing Vehicle Control System Architecture is a Key Enabler for Strategic Reuse,” National Workshop On High Confidence Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems, April 3-4, 2008, Troy, Michigan (USA)
    Position paper from Ford Motor Company

The list is not very long. I have some reasons why:

• Most research articles on automotive software architecture are written by researchers, not car manufacturers.
• Strategic decisions on software architecture can be seen as a business advantages and are therefore not published.
• I have a a quite long backlog of articles in the area of automotive software architecture which I have not read yet, there may be more among those.

I have also some news flashes in previous post in this blog which might be of interest. Search the label of Automotive software.