The perfection of hardware, software, and smartness

Some often-made statements say that mechanical hardware engineering does not matter much anymore in automobiles as those will be defined by software. But is it really as simple as that?

Well, I don’t want to rescue a dinosaur, but to put things right, it requires an integration of soft- AND hardware to figure out future mobility with autonomous, electric, and smart vehicles. Software arguably is at the beginning of a chain of commands to control a vehicle, but ultimately things get in motion through hardware.

This is reflected in the activity related to in-wheel motors or corner modules that keep an automobiles hardware basic but smart. One needs to be aware that tires, weight distribution, suspension, aerodynamics matter a lot and determine where and how a vehicle is moving.

Therefore, mechanical hardware might not get more and more sophisticated but will still matter a lot and needs to be accounted for to make sure software controls work out as intended.

Let me know what you think, I’d be happy to discuss further…