Code and chips

The problems of embedded software are rooted in the legacies of hardware development. At companies that once focused on the mechanics of hardware, the primary challenge today is developing high-quality, reliable software to embed in these products. The focus and value in engineered products is shifting from chips to code. As the focus shifts, companies accustomed to managing the development of their hardware need to learn new processes and metrics for managing the development of software so that they can make the process more productive and the software more reliable. Automobiles make a good case study for demonstrating the challenges of this mounting complexity and the devising a road map to improve the quality and reliability of embedded software, which now drives most of the industry's innovations and accounts for a substantial and rising part of each new car's value. Embedded-software systems control a wide variety of automotive applications and handle a number of fundamentally different challenges, such as those of suspension control and satellite navigation all while exchanging information in real time.