

Computer Code an Increasingly Precious E.V. Commodity - getpost
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/automobiles/23SPIES.html

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getpost
"While the French carmaker, which has a partnership with Nissan, maker of the
Leaf, has said no crucial technology leaked, the stakes in automotive
intellectual property are high, experts say. And the valuables are not
blueprints or styling sketches, but the huge volume of computer instructions
required by these cars: the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid uses about 10
million lines of computer code to shunt power seamlessly among the car’s
battery pack, power inverter, drive motor, gas engine, generator and other
subsystems.

By comparison, Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner relies on a mere eight million
lines of code."

Linux is ~4 million lines of code[1].

I have trouble even conceptualizing how that much code can ever be usefully
conceived or maintained. Obviously, it's possible. I just don't get it on a
practical level. Can anyone explain?

On a different vane, given the apparent impracticality of keeping code secret,
and the enormous undertaking that is required to develop this kind of
software, wouldn't it be better (lower cost & better quality & short lead
time) just to open source it, and have a platform that can be used by
different auto manufacturers? Can't we all just get along?

[1]
[http://msquaredtechnologies.com/m2rsm/rsm_software_project_m...](http://msquaredtechnologies.com/m2rsm/rsm_software_project_metrics.htm)

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henrikschroder
It can't possibly be true that the software of the Volt is 10 million lines.

First, it's not a reasonable amount of code for the task at hand. 10 million
lines to monitor various sensors, and to control various systems? Really?

Second, it's not reasonable that any team could have produced that much code
in this time. How long has the Volt been under production? A few years? You'd
need a huge team to just crank out that amount of code in that time, and it
would be of atrocious quality.

It's gotta be a journalistic exaggeration of some kind.

~~~
sp332
(Lines of code / car) * number of cars = total lines of code

Right? Right?

