“The problem is that the software is all written by 150 different companies, and they don’t talk to each other,” says Farley. “So even though it says Ford on the front, I actually have to go to Bosch to get permission to change their seat control software. Even if I had a high-speed modem in the vehicle and I had the ability to write their software, it’s actually their IP. We call it the ‘loose confederation of software providers.’ One-hundred-fifty completely different software programming languages. All the structure of the software is different. It’s millions [of lines] of code.”
Farley further emphasized, “What we’ve learned about electrification is it’s actually not about propulsion systems; it’s really about what you can do outside of the propulsion system, and also the software.”
Early this year, Hyundai adopted a similar customer experience and software-oriented approach to streamline research, production, and support.