The Forbidden Fruit

摘要

Dear Reader, The German car industry, often much criticized as being oh-so-backward, is getting into position by trying its luck with partnerships. A recent example: Bosch is hooking up with Microsoft and wants to use their Azure Cloud environment to create a software platform for the “seamless networking of vehicles.” The goal of the cooperation is to con tinuously develop vehicle software and to update the vehicle computers with it. This will completely remove the situation where post-SOP vehicles are in a more or less frozen state of capabilities and functions. They will then be, to coin a phrase, “panta rhei” until the end of their lifecycle. The eternal flow of new software sets, adjustments and capabilities ranging from driver assistance up to safety-focused functions such as braking parameters or damping characteristics will mean an almost complete shift away from the definition of homologation.