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> The fact that its leadership consists entirely of charlatans is self-evident. Charlatans maybe but the real problem is that they are old men with ballpoint p

> The fact that its leadership consists entirely of charlatans is self-evident. Charlatans maybe but the real problem is that they are old men with ballpoint pens who proudly claim that they have "petrol in their blood". The real tragedy is that most German automotive managers have no clue about the complexity of modern software and I'd bet most of them would answer the question: "What is more complex, the mechanics or the the software?" with "Mechanics, of course!" without a blink.

ncmncm 7y ago
Ask them which have had more serious engineering attention, and they would say, "Mechanics, of course!" And they would be right. Cars would be bursting into flames around every corner if they were built like software is today.
orf 7y ago
I disagree. A lot of large German auto companies are opening tech hubs here in Lisbon, and from what I’ve heard after speaking to people who work there is that the company is well aware they know absolutely nothing about software and are years behind. So they said screw it, let’s give engineers/hubs freedom to work with whatever technologies they feel would be best, structure themselves and control their output without micromanagement from above. Basically copy some trendy companies and see what happens. One of the hubs adopted extreme programming, which I’m not sure about but perhaps has value in their industry. But all in all from what I’ve heard is it’s working well. There is also a lot of non consumer facing software that compliments a car line. That all needs development and maintenance.
- dmix 7y ago
  > So they said screw it, let’s give engineers/hubs freedom to work with whatever technologies they feel would be best, structure themselves and control their output without micromanagement from above. Probably because this is what any sane CTO would tell them. But it probably doesn't help much when the above management tells them their task is to build an operating system. Without first getting a whole lot of technical people's feedback first. If they pull it off it could be pretty cool, but considering how much they already have to do to adopt AI, I doubt they'll have the talent or know-how to really pull this off. An interesting question is would it be easier for a tech group to build a better car company, that now suddenly is all about technology and less about designing and running a cost-competitive manufacturing system, than a car company could build a better tech company. But it's clear there's quite a few laws and other barriers to entry to help out the entrenched car companies who have deep local gov ties.

ncmncm 7y ago

Ask them which have had more serious engineering attention, and they would say, "Mechanics, of course!" And they would be right. Cars would be bursting into flames around every corner if they were built like software is today.

orf 7y ago

I disagree. A lot of large German auto companies are opening tech hubs here in Lisbon, and from what I’ve heard after speaking to people who work there is that the company is well aware they know absolutely nothing about software and are years behind. So they said screw it, let’s give engineers/hubs freedom to work with whatever technologies they feel would be best, structure themselves and control their output without micromanagement from above. Basically copy some trendy companies and see what happens. One of the hubs adopted extreme programming, which I’m not sure about but perhaps has value in their industry. But all in all from what I’ve heard is it’s working well. There is also a lot of non consumer facing software that compliments a car line. That all needs development and maintenance.

dmix 7y ago
> So they said screw it, let’s give engineers/hubs freedom to work with whatever technologies they feel would be best, structure themselves and control their output without micromanagement from above. Probably because this is what any sane CTO would tell them. But it probably doesn't help much when the above management tells them their task is to build an operating system. Without first getting a whole lot of technical people's feedback first. If they pull it off it could be pretty cool, but considering how much they already have to do to adopt AI, I doubt they'll have the talent or know-how to really pull this off. An interesting question is would it be easier for a tech group to build a better car company, that now suddenly is all about technology and less about designing and running a cost-competitive manufacturing system, than a car company could build a better tech company. But it's clear there's quite a few laws and other barriers to entry to help out the entrenched car companies who have deep local gov ties.