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134 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise
INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY
AUTOMAKERS BECOME SOFTWARE COMPANIES
As the smartphone market continues to expand transportation methods, and to do this, cars need
and initiatives like smart electric grids continue to to be equipped with software that can monitor and
pick up steam, another industry has begun getting enhance vehicle function at the most basic levels.
“smarter” with software and apps: the automo- The eventual system would require that cars feed
bile industry. Ford, BMW, and other automobile increasing amounts of information to systems
companies are enhancing their vehicles with on- whose purpose would be to minimize highway con-
board software that improves the customer experi- gestion. The system would also require an industry
ence, and the auto industry is working on technology standard, which does not exist as of yet. Ford has
that will allow cars to be managed via the cloud. doubled its investment in vehicle-to-vehicle com-
Automakers are finding that software is a way of munication technologies and BMW is also continu-
adding more “value” and freshness to their prod- ing to develop ways for vehicles to communicate
ucts without having to invest so heavily in new with one another on the road to avoid collisions.
vehicle production. It takes Ford Motor Company, With the inclusion of software in their cars,
for example, about two and one-half years to plan, automakers are entering uncharted territory. They
design, and build a new car. Design and production, must now devote resources to updating and testing
including metal stamping equipment and assembly their software, as well as establishing ways to
line setup, must be finalized long before the car provide the updated software to their customers.
rolls off the line. But the auto makers can create Car companies need to coordinate their car devel-
a new software interface for a car within months opment cycles more closely with their software
and update it again and again over the life of the development cycles. Also, many of the technolo-
car without much lead time. This enables Ford and gies included in automobile software packages raise
other automakers to significantly improve the pas- the same privacy concerns surrounding location
senger experience and add new features to cars tracking that have often plagued smartphone man-
years after they are built. ufacturers and app developers.
Ford is perhaps the automaker doing the most Ford is grappling with the best way to roll out
to innovate with software and apps. Its MyFord software upgrades to its customers. The company
Touch interface is an in-dash touch screen avail- has been mailing USB sticks to 250,000 customers
able for select vehicles with controls for navigation, whose cars have an advanced touch screen
music, phone integration, and temperature. Ford control panel running the MyFord Touch interface.
has upgraded this interface and the Sync software The stick contains a software upgrade that will
behind the interface, adding tablet and smartphone improve navigation controls, the music and phone
integration and better voice response. In 2010, Ford features, as well as the ability to control car tem-
added support for the online music streaming ser- perature. The upgrade also contains code that will
vice Pandora, which is very popular among young upgrade system speed and improve the interface
potential buyers. This update enables drivers to based on common criticisms from Ford owners.
connect their tablets and smartphones to the Sync Although Ford says it plans to continue issuing
system to access music and other apps using voice software upgrades this way, the company hopes
commands. that customers will get into the habit of check-
Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has championed the ing the Ford Web site for software upgrades on
use of software to alleviate urban congestion their own. Though most car owners are used to
by investing in technology that responds to the the technology in their cars remaining constant
problems created by traffic in the biggest cities. throughout the life of the car, newer cars are poised
Theoretically, technology might help cars to avoid to change all of that.
traffic jams, to reserve parking spaces in advance, Ford has hired “human-machine interface engi-
and possibly to even drive themselves. neers,” whose job is to analyze how their customers
To manage vehicles in this way, cars need to be interact with the software in their cars. Often, these
connected to some kind of central system, which engineers use customer feedback to make changes
would coordinate with public transit and other to the software. Customers complained that too
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