Challenge of Software Quality in Vehicle Development
Software is becoming the center of automotive development after decades of being an after thought. When a recall involves software, the customer wants an OTA fix instead of bringing the vehicle in for hardware replacement. This software-defined architecture requires rigorous testing to maintain high quality and minimize risk of costly failures. For success, you must test across the complete product and process lifecycle in a repeatable and efficient operation.
Challenges include:
- Aggressive Schedules: Automakers rushing to position in a disrupted market
- Tight budgets: Reliance on costly prototypes, expensive physical test
- Siloed design and test teams: Lack of compatibility across systems, poor communication of requirements/data/results, little re-use, lots of redundant rework
Quality and Safety Are Major Concerns for OEMs
According to the State of Automotive Software Development report for 2025, the top areas of concern in automotive software development are quality and safety.
| Area | Percentage of Respondents | Top Concerns |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | 29% | Our codebase is too complex, testing efforts are not exhaustive |
| Safety | 28% | Difficult to fulfill every IS0 26262 requirement, customers expect us to comply with MISRA |