Extending Agile Practices in Automotive MDE

Paper in proceeding, 2013

The size and functionality of the software in a modern car increases with each new generation. To stay competitive automotive manufactures must deliver new and better features to their customers at the same speed or faster than their competitors. A traditional waterfall process is not suitable for this speed challenge - a more agile way of working is desirable. By introducing MDE we have seen how individual teams at Volvo Cars adopt agile practices, resulting in tensions while the organization at large still uses a waterfall process. In an exploratory case study we interviewed 18 engineers to better understand how agile practices can be extended beyond individual teams. Where the tensions have their source in the technical specification of the software components and their interfaces, it turns out that it is company culture and mindsets that are the main hurdles to overcome.