Software continues its procession into the core of the modern cars. Sophisticated functionalities, like connectivity and active safety, provide gratifying comfort to its users. With the sophisticated functionality, however, comes the underlying complexity that grows overwhelmingly year by year. But the invisibility of software hinders the practitioners and researchers grasping the magnitude of complexity thoroughly. Rather, from time to time, the consequences of complexity surface in forms of ultra-high design efforts, waves of defect reports, and explosions of warranty costs. This article reveals the complexity of software in four key areas of automotive software development. It points out that the existing practices are severely insufficient for systematic complexity management.

Vard Antinyan is the technical expert of software quality at Volvo Cars. He received his PhD degree from University of Gothenburg. His research interests are software engineering and cognitive psychology.