Digital copyrights present challenges to the automotive aftermarket

Aug. 21, 2015
First, keep in mind that a large percentage of the software used on cars is not directly developed by the OEMs; it is actually developed by suppliers with names you would probably recognize – more on this later.

In the aftermarket and on computer programming forums we are talking a lot about the same subject – digital copyright. It is a complex issue and all I can hope to accomplish in this space is to ask some questions and present a few of the issues. You need to think about it and understand where you stand because the entire issue is made up of slippery slopes.

You may have read something on a blog about how the auto manufacturers don’t want you to own the software on your car. Fundamentally, as I understand it, that is true. They want to grant you a license to use the software as long as you own the car.

What I find so curious is that the guys getting excited about this online are computer programmers. The operating systems they use with the exception of Linux and its variants work just like this. Windows and Mac OS are licensed for your use. They are not yours to reverse engineer. In this respect the OEMs are the same as computer software companies. There are lots of open source applications on the Internet but even those generally have rules that if you make a modification you agree to share that with the community of developers.

So why are the OEMs so concerned about folks reverse engineering their vehicle software? To answer this completely is outside of my scope and quite probably my knowledge, but I can give you one example that should help to clarify it. First, keep in mind that a large percentage of the software used on cars is not directly developed by the OEMs; it is actually developed by suppliers with names you would probably recognize – more on this later.

To simplify vehicle production and keep costs down many electronic components of a car are the same from base model to top of the line and across platforms. The difference in operation occurs when the software is installed effectively turning on or off features that go with the configuration of the car. By buying a whole bunch of the same widget rather than a smaller number of different widgets, a savings is realized that keeps the overall cost of the additional technology that is stuffed into every crevice of cars from making the cost of entry too high.

If someone were to break down that code and figure out what switches to turn on they could add features to a base model that were not paid for. If OEMs have to defend against that we will get vehicles that have multiple variants of a single part that will likely become hard to find as cars reach the age of component replacement on top of the pricing increase.

The Tesla is one well-documented example of a car that ships with technologies that are dormant and can be activated at a later date. For the OEM and their suppliers, this is a way to put a cap on large research and development costs.

Here is the other side of this equation. I said that many of the suppliers to the OEMs are also suppliers to the aftermarket. I have to thank Bill Long from Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association for explaining the nuances of this to me. When a supplier like Delphi, Bosch or Mahle comes up with a new technology and they pitch it to an OEM, they are generally under a contract to provide some variation of that technology exclusively to the OEM for many years. As the cost of developing these technologies continues to go up, this limitation makes it more difficult to repurpose a technology for say creating an aftermarket replacement component or a retrofit for a vehicle that lacks this technology.

I am going to count on you to consider the implications of that problem if you were the copyright/patent holder. The other issue that this creates goes back to manufacturers who reverse engineer how something works to improve or make their own version of it. Let’s take something like an electric water pump and this water pump has a shaft speed sensor a pressure sensor and a temp sensor signal that all are delivered to the engine management system over a network (this is not as far in the future as you may think). If you are an aftermarket parts maker who wants to make that pump you need to know what the software that runs it does. Currently a lot of information for scan tools passes through the Equipment and Tool Institute but at this point this kind of information is not part of that equation. Again, I will count on you to consider the implications of this reality.

We are in a brave new world that needs a level of cooperation that we are not known for in the automotive industry. The cold, hard truth is that we all need each other to supply, build and maintain people’s cars. There are those that still don’t get it, but I have to compliment the large number of people from automakers, parts suppliers and industry associations who do get it and are making a real effort to work together and still maintain their competitive place in the market.

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