Title: Dependencies as a barrier for continuous innovation in cyber-physical systems

Authors: Siri Jagstedt; Niklas Mellegård; Kenneth Lind

Addresses: Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden; Mobility and Systems – Digital Innovation, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Lindholmspiren 7, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden ' Ictech AB, Lindholmspiren 5A, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden; Mobility and Systems – Systems Engineering, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Lindholmspiren 7, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden ' Mobility and Systems – Systems Engineering, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Lindholmspiren 7, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract: In the automotive domain, as an example of cyber-physical systems, continuous software deployment is actively explored to deliver increasingly capable features to existing fleets of vehicles. The distributed nature of software coupled with tight hardware integration and potentially tremendous variability between vehicles make ensuring compatibility of updated software a significant challenge - both technically and managerially. While the automotive industry commonly forms larger multi-brand organisations to utilise economies of scale, processes for continuous deployment contradictory assumes a single organisation with full control. This paper sets out to shed light on challenges of adopting continuous deployment in the context of such a multi-brand cyber-physical systems organisation. Following a case study, the paper describes a tension between the managerial perspective concerned with platform strategies, and the engineering perspective responsible for developing products from those platforms. The paper highlights software dependencies as a barrier to continuous innovation of cyber-physical systems in multi-brand organisations.

Keywords: dependencies; product architecture; cyber-physical system; continuous deployment; continuous innovation; automotive; multi-brand organisations; product platform; agile software development; continuous integration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2023.133915

International Journal of Technology Management, 2023 Vol.93 No.3/4, pp.194 - 219

Received: 08 Jul 2022
Accepted: 15 Feb 2023
Published online: 05 Oct 2023 *

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