I actually suggested this theory a few weeks ago: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/volkswagen-different-theory-w...
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Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
41–50 of 259 posts
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#42How is Volkswagen's US head, who lives and works in the US, able to issue proclamations with such certainty about the non-existence of private conversations and directions taking place among the engineering staff and management in Germany, where he spends almost no time? It is as if a US diplomat stationed in New Zealand used his authority to declare that Bush had never authorized any torture, and it was rogue indivi…
I would assume he is speaking on behalf of Volkswagen, not testifying as an individual on his own experiences. Volkswagen's current story is that it was a couple rogue engineers, so he is conveying that. Congress isn't going to get the CEO in to testify, so it's reasonable to assume he is speaking as a proxy.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#43"This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason," - I'm not buying it. What would be their motive compared say to VW's motive? VW has a heck of a lot more motive for falsifying emissions than do "a couple of software engineers." Even if you were to argue the engineers were somehow fearful for their jobs that's still VW's problem because they're the ones who created that work environment i…
No way could it be just a couple of software engineers. The engine is a system, and its the engine that has to pass the emissions tests. So that means the whole engine development team had to be in on it, including their technical management. They in turn would not have done such a thing if they had not believed that senior management wanted it, and it is the responsibility of senior management to make it clear what they want.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#44This ridiculous story is not going to hold and they know it so watch for higher ups trying to divest. I mean Bosch told them it would be illegal to use the way they were intending. I surely hope someone is watching who at the company is selling shares.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is probably a little reactionary, but can we just stop for a second and admire the difference in American CEO's versus his European counterpart? The latter resigns immediately as a way of accepting he is ultimately responsible, the former points fingers. This is a blatant example of why the tide of opinion is turning against those with the most wealth.
Agreed. However I do feel that the European CEO got off easy by simply being able to walk away.
AFAIK the German government is still investigating the issue. He may have walked away, but that's not necessarily the end of the story.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#46I'm assuming the development process for embedded auto software like this would be pretty rigorous, meaning it would be fairly difficult to sneak in code like this. I also assume that testing of emissions software like this would involve a lot of lab/road testing with the vehicles against the EPA test profile and therefore a lot of people would be involved. Suggesting this is the stealthy work of just a couple of sof…
At a high level, I beleive VW uses the V-model. Everything implemented should tie back to a high level requirement, and it should have been verified.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, they can. Most engineers (in the US) have to take an ethics course that covers this. Just because your boss says do something, doesn't give you a pass.
Do you have a source for ethics education and engineering? I've never heard of this being something that most engineers are taught (in the US).
http://bulletin.csusb.edu/colleges-schools-departments/natur... At least at my college it was a required course for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. CSE 488 Ethics and the Computing Professional
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#48"This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason," - I'm not buying it. What would be their motive compared say to VW's motive? VW has a heck of a lot more motive for falsifying emissions than do "a couple of software engineers." Even if you were to argue the engineers were somehow fearful for their jobs that's still VW's problem because they're the ones who created that work environment i…
Just because VW might have more motive to do this doesn't automatically mean that they're lying when they say it was the fault of individual engineers. Guilt is not determined by "who has the most motive", it's determined by who actually did it.
Now it may very well be true that VW is lying and it was a corporate decision. But it's not completely implausible that this really was the decision of a few individual employees.
Other commenters here are expressing surprise that engineers could "slip through arbitrary code" to do this. But isn't that kind of the job of software engineers, to write code to do things? I would hope they have code review going on at VW, but code review doesn't always catch everything, or maybe several engineers who were working together would review each other's code.
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#49I actually suggested this theory a few weeks ago: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/volkswagen-different-theory-w...
I don't understand. Why would software guys fear the results of some chemistry-based process? They don't seem to have any control over that.
The ones fired would have been the mechanical engineers that designed the engine, aren't they?
Re: Volkswagen's U.S. head: individuals engineered emissions cheating
#50How could some engineers cheat the entire VW corporation?
Germans are known for their ridiculously meticulous standards and testing. VW should have many in-house and external-independent labs performing tests.
The engineers who write the ECU code have a great distance from the mechanics who test every engine and car batch from their production line.
How did they never tested and engine entirely; power, emissions, consumption?
You may fool the regulators but you can't fool your own mechanics.