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There is no car, only code (56)

Mechanics with mouse-pads

When is the last time you went to the garage to get your car fixed? Well, no matter the type, I expect that apart from wrenches and overalls the mechanic also had a laptop with him. But why? What does a laptop have to do with cars?

It turns out cars at this point are more computer than mechanical parts. We still drive our cars the same, but under the hood everything has changed. Take for example turning the wheel: 

  • In a conventional car, the wheel itself is physically connected to the tires via an axle
  • In modern, "computerized" cars the wheel is instead connected to a computer that interprets the driver's command and relays it to the tires accordingly
This vehicle design philosophy, that pretty much applies to everything from cars, to spaceship and aircraft, is called Software Defined Vehicle or SDV.

So where is my car's computer?

The "softwareization" has been an ongoing process during the last years. Computers are very helpful machines to automate tasks with lots of calculations. Automotive engineers have been introducing controllers or small computers to many systems. The navigation system, the steering system, the braking system... all with their own mini-brain to orchestrate their smooth operation.

But these systems don’t operate in isolation. The navigation system needs updates from the throttle to calculate trajectory. The fuel management system needs to feed data to the display system to show fuel level and consumption rates. Everything must be connected.

However, complexity grows exponentially the more systems are added,. Lots of non-standardized "brains" are scattered throughout the car, connected by meters of wiring. This adds weight, cost, and introduces new and complex failure modes.

Making sense of the mess under the hood

Looking at the trends of proliferating complexity, automotive companies want to move to a true SDV architecture. The idea is to replace all these mini brains with a central processing system that would instead be connected to all sensors and actuators with a sophisticated network. The benefits are significant: less wiring, fewer unique parts, and reduced reliance on complex supplier ecosystems. This is exactly what automotive execs love to hear: lower costs, better safety, and control.

But perhaps most exciting is what this enables: over-the-air (OTA) software updates. No downtime. No trips to the dealer. New features can be installed remotely, bugs can be fixed overnight, and performance data can be gathered for predictive maintenance, ultimately ensuring that the driver has less surprises with sudden engine failure.

When cars become services

But all is not rosy. SDVs are notoriously hard to design—especially for legacy carmakers used to mechanical-first thinking. So far, companies like Tesla and BYD, which designed their software and electronics stack from scratch, have led the charge. There's also growing concern about how SDVs may enable new business models that aren't always consumer-friendly. Subscription-based features (like heated seats) have drawn criticism for locking basic functionality behind recurring payments.

In any case, exciting times are ahead for car and technology enthusiasts alike. It falls to engineers, designers, consumers and policy-makers though to shape technology that serves the users. Technology is never neutral and we should all well be mindful about how our actions (or lack of thereof) are influencing technological developments.


 

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