> The article suggest that the german industry may not cope with more computer centric vehicles. I think thats just laughable, In my opinion, this is precisely

> The article suggest that the german industry may not cope with more computer centric vehicles. I think thats just laughable, In my opinion, this is precisely their problem though: they are increasingly becoming software companies with sort of a mechanical engineering appendage, but they haven't realised yet. > it is them who introduced computer controlled engine (motronic) or invented ABS and ESP which are computer controlled brakes. Yes, but those are relatively "classic" devices: straight-forward control of narrowly-defined and well-defined physical systems. Essentially an iteration on analog control systems. In fact your argument strengthens mine, IMO: you seem not to have realised either how tremendous the difference is between good old ABS and a modern vehicle (and inter-vehicle, etc) network. No doubt German manufacturers can catch up quickly: but only if they realise this paradigm shift, and react to it. So far, I see no signs of that. Fellow German automotive embedded engineer here, BTW. I've seen how the sausage gets made. Anectdata: * the last BMW project I worked on, they had very tenuous control of their in-car network, with lots of race conditions, gaps, etc. And couldn't seem to get it under control * speaking of race conditions: there is one in my BMW. In the gear selector! (yes, you read right -- a race condition in the gear selector) * the BMW Android app (which cost €300, including the preparations within the car) is laughably unreliable; it's frequently unavailable, likes to present incorrect data, and the UX is designed by clueless people. Most free apps are better. At least they are consistent: despite frequent updates, it remains shit