Case · Mitsubishi Electric · Software
Three daysto one hour,on every commit
Introduction
01As more of a vehicle's behaviour moves into software, the bottleneck moves to verification. Teams ship changes continuously, but a release is only as fast as the slowest manual step in front of it — and for embedded ECU software that step is usually testing.
Mitsubishi Electric develops the infotainment head unit for a Volvo Cars platform: a feature-rich ECU whose software has to keep pace with an agile programme. The team wanted to develop and verify in parallel rather than in sequence, but producing a release meant roughly three days of manual work, and tests were run by hand rather than on every change. A defect introduced early might not surface until the end of a manual cycle — when it is hardest and most costly to fix.
Diadrom ran a pre-study and then implemented an automated continuous-integration chain for the ECU software: module-level CI feeding system-level CI, so every change is built and integrated automatically. Verification was automated with Diadrom Dolphin — test execution configured through Dolphin's interface, exported and version-controlled, and kept in sync across platforms, so the same suite runs the same way on every build.
It's fun to work again now that we've automated all the test cases.
Impact
02The bottleneck,removed
Continuous integration is how the rest of the software world removed the verification bottleneck. Applying it to embedded ECU software is harder — and worth more, because the cost of a late-discovered regression is higher.
- A
3 days
Manual work a release build used to take
- B
1 hour
The same release build, as an automated run
- C
100%
Of the test cases automated, executed with Diadrom Dolphin
- D
2
CI levels in the chain: module-level feeding system-level
All four are programme facts drawn from Diadrom's reference material on the engagement. No industry benchmark is quoted here: the widely repeated figures for the cost of a late-discovered defect are poorly sourced, and this programme does not need them.
Capabilities
03Every commit built, every commit tested
The agile 'develop and verify in parallel' model, made real for a complex vehicle ECU — without lowering the verification bar such an ECU demands.
- 01Automated continuous-integration chain for embedded ECU software
- 02Module-level CI feeding system-level CI
- 03Test execution automated with Diadrom Dolphin
- 04Test configuration exported and version-controlled
- 05The same suite synchronised across platforms
- 06Release build as a repeatable automated run
The system
04Insidethe pipeline
Two levels of integration
- Module-level CI builds and tests each part as it changes
- System-level CI integrates the parts, fed by the module level beneath it
In practice
- Catch a module regression before it ever reaches the system build
- Keep the system build meaningful, because what arrives at it has already passed
Chain
- Module-level CI
- System-level CI
- Build on commit
- Test on commit
Verification as configuration
- Test execution configured through Dolphin's interface rather than written as scripts
- That configuration exported and version-controlled like any other source
In practice
- Review a change to the test suite the same way you review a change to the code
- Keep the suite in sync across platforms, so a pass on one is a pass on all
Tooling
- Diadrom Dolphin
- GUI-configured
- Version-controlled
- Cross-platform
What the numbers changed
- A release build reduced from roughly three days of manual assembly to a one-hour automated run
- Regressions surfacing in minutes instead of at the end of a multi-day cycle
In practice
- Release more often, because releasing stopped being an event
- Fix a regression on the commit that caused it, while it is still cheap
Before
- 3-day manual build
- Tests run by hand
- Late discovery
After
- 1-hour automated build
- Every commit tested
- Minutes to signal
Outcome
05Fast and safe,no longera trade-off
The pipeline turned verification from the slowest step into an automatic one. Every commit is now built and tested without anyone waiting on it, and the release that once took three days of manual work runs in about an hour — so the team releases more often, catches regressions while they are cheap to fix, and holds an agile pace without lowering the bar a vehicle ECU demands.
As vehicles become more software-defined, the teams that win are the ones that can change software quickly and prove it still works, continuously. It is the same verification discipline Diadrom builds into its own products, applied to a customer's development process.
The cheapest quality you will ever buy is the regression you catch on the commit that caused it. Automate the build and the test, and a three-day release becomes an hour — without giving up an inch of rigour.
Further reading
06- DiadromSoftware — products and engineering proven in serial production→
- DiadromDiag Studio — the diagnostics product built to the same bar→
- DiadromChoose the responsibility you need→
Details drawn from Diadrom's reference material on the Mitsubishi Electric infotainment head unit engagement. Programme and platform specifics beyond those stated are excluded. The opening quotation is attributed to the customer organisation, as it is on diadrom.com, where no speaker is named. Further information available to qualified parties under NDA.
Software