Mating the Elephant with a Fruit Fly: Synchronizing Development Cycles in Automotive, Electronics, and Software

It’s not hyperbole to say that automakers’ survival depends on rapid innovation. But even as vehicle development cycle times have shrunk, they still fail to keep up with faster cycles in software and electronics. This costs automakers millions, possibly billions, in fruitless investments and lost opportunities. In our research into automotive design and development, engineers frequently tell us, “technology is not the problem, it’s the industry’s mindset”. So the point of this paper is not to re-hash the technical discussion, but to open that mindset up, with an unorthodox -- yet serious -- comparison of innovation in biology and industry.