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Black Box thingy on cab of 2020 Super Duty


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Related.  Someone told me by 2020MY (or maybe 2021MY) ALL US Ford products would have a 4G (maybe even 5G?) compatible cell phone connection and Ford could push out software updates for various different control modules.  Entertainment (Sync) for sure and maybe a few years later, Powertrain and Body (do they still call it the Smart Junction Box?) .  ABS ?  Not likely on the little "jelly bean" modules.

 

This was going to be a major cost hit for the PCM and likely the other modules.  (Discussion was, they need to be able to store the entire new code so thay they could verify it was correct and then swap it in after a "key OFF".)

 

Also related : While there are dozens and dozens of modules in each vehicle that vast majority of them are "black boxes".  That is, a spec is written, Purchasing choose a supplier and the device is built including the software.  Ford may own the algorithms and but they do own the "image".

The only two devices that have mostly "in house" software are Sync and the PCM.  Maybe the SJB.  The big issue with "in house" software development is that the Ford IT department is slow (non-existent?) in providing the necessary tools (hardware and software) to develop this software.  While software development is no longer an "art", but a well understood "science", Ford does not necessarily follow "software industry standards".  Again no help from IT.  (Most software engineers at Ford consider IT a burden rather than an asset.)

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1 hour ago, theoldwizard said:

Related.  Someone told me by 2020MY (or maybe 2021MY) ALL US Ford products would have a 4G (maybe even 5G?) compatible cell phone connection and Ford could push out software updates for various different control modules.  Entertainment (Sync) for sure and maybe a few years later, Powertrain and Body (do they still call it the Smart Junction Box?) .  ABS ?  Not likely on the little "jelly bean" modules.

 

This was going to be a major cost hit for the PCM and likely the other modules.  (Discussion was, they need to be able to store the entire new code so thay they could verify it was correct and then swap it in after a "key OFF".)

 

Also related : While there are dozens and dozens of modules in each vehicle that vast majority of them are "black boxes".  That is, a spec is written, Purchasing choose a supplier and the device is built including the software.  Ford may own the algorithms and but they do own the "image".

The only two devices that have mostly "in house" software are Sync and the PCM.  Maybe the SJB.  The big issue with "in house" software development is that the Ford IT department is slow (non-existent?) in providing the necessary tools (hardware and software) to develop this software.  While software development is no longer an "art", but a well understood "science", Ford does not necessarily follow "software industry standards".  Again no help from IT.  (Most software engineers at Ford consider IT a burden rather than an asset.)

Most corporate IT departments are not focused on software development for customer applications, they are focused on internal hardware and business operations software compatibility and operability.  Think SAP, CAD, Databases, etc.  Software development is an engineering function, not an IT function.

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20 hours ago, Flying68 said:

Most corporate IT departments are not focused on software development for customer applications, they are focused on internal hardware and business operations software compatibility and operability.  Think SAP, CAD, Databases, etc.  Software development is an engineering function, not an IT function.

But corporate IT should NOT stand in the way of allowing engineering to achieve their goals !

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