Very interesting article, just a few brief excerts below:
Original Article Here
How BMW Drives the Bugs Out
Electronics chief Ulrich Heiden on the quest to make cutting-edge cars that are also leaders in quality and reliability
[font=arial,helvetica,univers] In the 1990s auto makers uncorked the genie of electronics and started designing systems that could do everything from warming up the driver's seat to enhancing safety with complex automatic steering and braking maneuvers. But as cars became more dependent on sophisticated electronics, the number of breakdowns mushroomed, and cars made by innovation leaders BMW and Mercedes (DCX ) suddenly became much less reliable.
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[/font][font=arial,helvetica,univers]Q: Why does BMW continue to pack more electronics into its new models, including the 3 Series you have just unveiled? Does the customer really need all that complexity?
A: Yes indeed. Electronics innovations improve the handling, agility, safety, and comfort of cars. The new Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system in the 3 Series we are just launching, for example, includes several electronics systems that work together to increase driver control and safety. One improved function is the ability to correct the car's steering when it starts to skid on a wet or slippery road. We built in the kind of reaction that an expert driver would have when the car skids.
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[/font][font=arial,helvetica,univers]Q: What has BMW done over the past three years to weed out bugs before cars are in the showroom?
A: First we added specialists in the development phase for each electronic function, especially for the networking. A lot of bugs appear in the linking of the car's internal systems. It's like the difference between building a cell phone and building the network that allows the cell phone to make calls. The network is infinitely more complex and prone to glitches.
...
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Original Article Here
How BMW Drives the Bugs Out
Electronics chief Ulrich Heiden on the quest to make cutting-edge cars that are also leaders in quality and reliability
[font=arial,helvetica,univers] In the 1990s auto makers uncorked the genie of electronics and started designing systems that could do everything from warming up the driver's seat to enhancing safety with complex automatic steering and braking maneuvers. But as cars became more dependent on sophisticated electronics, the number of breakdowns mushroomed, and cars made by innovation leaders BMW and Mercedes (DCX ) suddenly became much less reliable.
....
[/font][font=arial,helvetica,univers]Q: Why does BMW continue to pack more electronics into its new models, including the 3 Series you have just unveiled? Does the customer really need all that complexity?
A: Yes indeed. Electronics innovations improve the handling, agility, safety, and comfort of cars. The new Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system in the 3 Series we are just launching, for example, includes several electronics systems that work together to increase driver control and safety. One improved function is the ability to correct the car's steering when it starts to skid on a wet or slippery road. We built in the kind of reaction that an expert driver would have when the car skids.
...
[/font][font=arial,helvetica,univers]Q: What has BMW done over the past three years to weed out bugs before cars are in the showroom?
A: First we added specialists in the development phase for each electronic function, especially for the networking. A lot of bugs appear in the linking of the car's internal systems. It's like the difference between building a cell phone and building the network that allows the cell phone to make calls. The network is infinitely more complex and prone to glitches.
...
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