Software Strategy

Veeworks' mission is to help companies build robust and reliable vehicles. Reliability in modern vehicles starts with quality control software. Prioritising software quality requires dedicating ample time to every feature’s development (planning, testing, and validation), but this comes at a cost. To illustrate the point:

For smaller software: If the number of features planned in the vehicle software is small, then spending relatively more time per feature on its development maximises quality without resulting in a large overall cost. The increase in quality comes from the additional planning, testing and validation that can take place.

For larger software: If the scope is large and complex, then spending more time per feature on its development maximises quality, but the overall amount of resources (people, time) consumed is very high, and the costs will balloon.

This trade-off is known as the project management triangle, or the quality triangle.

It describes three inputs, each a corner of the triangle: cost, time and scope. It is generally accepted that a project manager can constrain only two of these variables at any time. The third will be dependent on the other two, so for example if the project must attain an optimal (low) cost, and you must spend a lot of time on each feature to attain a high quality, then the scope must be very small.

For teams who are integrating hybrid or electric vehicle control software, the project management triangle certainly applies to all new vehicle software development. These teams are torn in three directions: to maximise the quality, and safety, of the resulting software. But also, there is pressure to do so quickly, cost-effectively, and with fewer resources.

When teams are developing software from scratch, these constraints are unfair and contradictory. For teams under these pressures, we propose three alternative approaches that effectively short-circuit the quality triangle: firstly by reusing existing software, secondly by sharing development costs, and thirdly by amortising development costs.

To briefly explain these three approaches:

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Re-use existing software

Vehicle software is made up of two key parts, firstly the Basic Software (BSW), and secondly the Application Software (ASW). The BSW is dependent on the underlying hardware. Both BSW and ASW are often made up of a mixture of Vehicle-specific Integrations (60%) and Reusable Libraries (40%). The Reusable Libraries are often portable between projects, and teams can save a considerable amount of time and cost if they can purchase and reuse these parts. Examples of Reusable Libraries commonly found in electric vehicles: the pedal and torque controller logic, gear selector logic, and charging stack software. Reusing software also leverages previous testing and validation, significantly reducing cost and uncertainty.

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Share development costs

To develop vehicle software from scratch requires significant capital expenditure. When teams are developing software in novel applications, the software may not yet exist yet, so it may not be possible to reuse existing software. This being the case, teams may be able to leverage a development partner who has interest in co-developing the software, and in exchange earning the rights to modify and re-use the Intellectual Property (IP) on similar projects. Certainly, the software is important to your vehicle, but many companies do not see embedded software as their core competency: perhaps your leverage is actually manufacturing, marketing or geographic advantage. If this is the case, you may decide that sharing the development costs with a development partner can help you to access quality vehicle control software at a lower price. Moreover, sharing the development cost for new software can also share the toolchain licensing and maintenance liabilities, making your business more sustainable in the long term.

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Amortise development costs

When the manufacturing opportunity comes with a very high volume, some vehicle integrators are willing to develop the control software at a loss in exchange for larger hardware orders, a per-vehicle licensing fee on the IP, or share options. All of these options are favourable to the manufacturer because it reduces the capital expenditure and shifts the development risk to the vehicle software integrator. Experienced software integrators are not concerned by the shift in risk because they have a large pipeline of past and current projects. They do not need to create all of the software from scratch, nor is their investment in software likely to be wasted if the manufacturing opportunity does not meet the predicted volume or market uptake.

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Veeworks are Australia's Subject-Matter Expert (SME) specialising in all areas of embedded software development for hybrid and electric vehicles.

We also provide consultation services in software development strategy, embedded software commercialisation, and act as a liaison and deal-maker in complex software joint ventures between manufacturers.

We are deeply connected, operating as the local distributor for key eMobility companies such as New Eagle, Dana, and Wind River Software. We are working right now with many hybrid and electric vehicle manufacturers in Australia, either providing controls development services, or helping align their software development strategies for successful outcomes. Whether you are an OEM, upfitter or a startup, you can leverage our expertise for:

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Development of executive vehicle software strategy

Veeworks work with your board and engineers to collect the requirements of your manufacturing program and collate them into a brief. Once the brief has been approved, Veeworks will work with you as part of a multi-step process to put together a vehicle Software Strategy report. The strategy report will provide actionable steps to solve the issues that you are currently facing or are concerned about.

As an indication, the software strategy report usually contains advice about: the state of your current software (if any), analysis of your current spending patterns and projected spending, the kind of vehicle software that will work best given your constraints (black box, in-house developed, partnership), the associated risks for each, applicable software standards and the resources required to align to them, a gaps analysis including supporting information about your organisations current processes and tools and suggested improvements, a plan for implementing the target vehicle software Quality Management System (QMS), and the estimated time/cost required to implement the plan.

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Identification and implementation of relevant compliance requirements

Veeworks work with you to help you understand how your business intersects with Australian compliance requirements, such as the Australian Design Rules (ADRs). We help you to understand current and future requirements so that you can identify and manage risks in your vehicle development program. For manufacturers of hybrid and electric vehicles, this may include Australian Design Rule 109/00 - Electric Power Train Safety Requirements, but we may identify other requirements relevant to your project.

We can also help you to identify relevant international requirements, such as those from the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), German Institute for Standardization (DIN) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). A key use-case here is to integrate the compliance (or plan to comply) for standards relevant to your future target markets into your software strategy and development process so that you are ready for product globalisation. Thinking about globalisation early in the development process, particularly during part selection, can significantly reduce costs associated with vehicle software integration, procedural complexity and supply chain management.

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Review of existing strategy/technical gaps analysis

Veeworks work with your company to understand your current software strategy and collate a report that details exactly how vehicle software is developed within your organisation. The aim here is to capture your end-goal and purpose for developing vehicle software, so that we can assess whether your current software strategy is capable of achieving it. Based on this, we document our findings as a gaps analysis report to help you identify improvements and changes that you can make to achieve the desired outcomes. Common desired outcomes are: increase software quality within your organisation, reduce costs to make vehicle software development sustainable, fulfilling the requirements of a tendering process, meet a certain production goal or meet a certain level of compliance.

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Technical due-diligence for vehicle development partnerships

Before you enter into a complex or risky relationship with a systems, powertrain or controls supplier, you engage Veeworks to act as an advisor to perform due-diligence on the other party. By bringing us into the deal early, we can gather extensive information on the other party's offering, such as: the technical excellence of their offering, scope of their offering, whether their offering has substantial moat, whether their patents are likely to be enforceable, whether the solution is the right one for you, and whether better options may exist under your commercial constraints.

It is remarkably challenging to get vehicle software right: it requires an expert engineering team. Many eMobility partnerships have broken down at great cost to both parties because either party was well-presented, but exaggerated or overestimated their technical capabilities. As a subject-matter expert, we will help you to discern whether this is the case before entering into the deal so that you can put measures in place to protect your business' interests. We can also provide an accompanying Risk Management Plan (RMP).

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Brokering of vehicle software development partnerships

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Applicable Techniques

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Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) modelling

When undertaking a large software development exercise, Veeworks use SDLC modelling to understand the resources required at each stage of the project. Many organisations are unprepared to deal with the reality that embedded software is now constantly evolving and Over-The-Air (OTA) updates are commonplace. Veeworks help organisations to model not just the upfront capital expenditure of software programs, but understand the total lifecycle cost, including the maintenance cost and the ongoing costs.

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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis

Veeworks use SWOT analysis as an advisory tool to improve visibility into software programs for stakeholders. When assessing your software program we identify the Strengths (such as market position, reliability, efficiency, maintainability, flexibility and economics, the Weaknesses (such as position relative to next leader, process gaps, technical debt, vendor lock-in and any special resourcing required).

From these, we perform an analysis of the Opportunities (such as application of automation, platform reuse, sub licensing, deployment of AI or tool simplification) and Threats (such as cybersecurity risks, regulatory risks, hardware obsolescence, supply chain risks, likelihood of competitor step-change and unsustainability of technical debt).

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Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound (SMART) framework

Veeworks apply the SMART framework when documenting goals for your team. The idea of the SMART framework is to ensure that decisions are made based on clear engineering objectives. In the context of automotive software, Specific ensures that the scope of the goal is clearly defined, Measurable ensures that a metric defines the success criteria of the goal, Achievable ensures that the goal is realistic given the available budget and timeline, Relevant ensures that the goal results in useful business outcomes and Time-bound provides a useful priority and delivery window to each goal.

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Applicable deliverables

The lack of a crisp software strategy manifests as: financial pressure due to high ongoing maintenance costs, overspending during development due to poor estimation or scope management, or low sales due to a poor reputation attributed by delivering unreliable or buggy vehicles. For all hybrid and electric vehicle projects, Veeworks recommend the development of a Software Strategy report. The strategy report can be expanded into a Risk Management Plan.

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Software Strategy report

A report that contains the framing, analysis and approach to improve software development within your organisation. A software strategy report is an outcome of a specific software strategy consultation. During the consultation, we work with your board and engineering team to collect the requirements of your program, review your current progress and procedures, and then design actionable next-steps.

When designing software strategies, Veeworks use veteran software engineers with long-running experience in the execution of complex software projects. We apply techniques like SDLC modelling, SWOT analysis and apply the SMART framework to distill insights into a format that is highly actionable and investment-ready. All of our reports are designed with technical and non-technical audiences in mind, with multiple summaries that can be easily shared and understood throughout the levels and structures of your organisation.

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Software Risk Management Plan (RMP, or SRMP)

A plan that begins by identifying pertinent risks specific to the vehicle software strategy in your organisation, and then proposes risk management strategies to mitigate or reduce the impact of each risk. An SRMP is the outcome of a specific software strategy consultation, or a due-diligence exercise.

To write a good and actionable SRMP, the writer must have a broad understanding of risk identification and risk management, as well as deep in-the-trenches experience in software development within the same domain that is being assessed. The expert vehicle software development consultants at Veeworks have both of these background traits, making them uniquely qualified to deliver accurate, in-depth and insightful SRMP that are ready to be shared with project stakeholders.

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Software strategy workshops

Workshops are a powerful way to refine software strategy in tight feedback loops. Compared with higher latency forms of communication, like email or requirement sets, the unstructured format of workshops allow many concerns and ideas to be explored, discussed and documented with minimal overhead. A workshop helps all parties to reach alignment quickly.

Veeworks recommend that workshops should form the basis of any new Software Strategy or software risk management exercises. The quality of your new vehicle Software Strategy is proportional to the ability of the engineer collating the strategy report, which is why external expert consultation is necessary. Aside from this, the engineer also needs a deep and nuanced understanding of the organisation and people that are being reported on. Workshops are a quick and cost-effective way to develop this understanding. They also provide the right environment to flag and discuss preliminary issues, which can help Veeworks to understand the priorities of decision-makers in your organisation.

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Applicable industries

There is rarely an industry that software has not revolutionised, and where there is, it may represent a significant untapped commercial opportunity for your organisation. But, you should be wary of introducing software development into your organisation without understanding the risks, and the best way to do so is by having a clear expertly-authored strategy and plan of execution. Veeworks work closely with Australian teams to build the teams and processes that can deliver high quality, complex embedded software projects with certainty:

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Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Veeworks help manufacturers, including startups, who are dealing with the complexity of designing and building vehicles such as passenger cars, utility vehicles, vans, trucks and road trains. Manufacturers may be developing or integrating VCU, VCCU, TCU, BCM, BMS or similar electronic controls into their hybrid or electric vehicle designs. Motor vehicle manufacturers benefit by engaging our services at any point in the project lifecycle: earlier on helps to minimise spend and make best use of resources, whereas organisations may engage later on once they feel growing pains or have greater buy-in from stakeholders.

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Second Stage Manufacturers (SSM) and Upfitters

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