Why Toyota Should Go Open Source

BusinessWeek (Jim Whitehurst, CEO Red Hat) - The software in Toyota's "black boxes" is like having a car with its hood welded shut. Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst calls for more openness in auto.

A reasonable corollary to Moore's Law is that the number of lines of computer source code in a typical product will double every two years. This is daunting for those who know software's dirty little secret: Software quality has improved little over the past 30 years...Unless we improve the fundamental quality of software development, the number of electronics-related defects in a typical product could double every two years.

Toyota's recent response to claims of unintended acceleration in its vehicles illustrates the potential pitfalls of today's technologically complex automobiles. Until its recent troubles, Toyota was the poster child for quality, having pioneered the use of kaizen principles of continuous improvement. Toyota embraced the teachings of quality guru Dr. W. Edwards Deming and instilled a collaborative culture of "see something, say something, and do something." It was one of the first companies to understand that quality did not stop at its corporate boundaries: Designs are shared across the supply chain, and everyone involved is encouraged to collaborate. With more eyes carefully examining all processes, inefficiencies in process and product defects are identified and eliminated quickly...

The software hidden in Toyota's black boxes is the equivalent to having a car with its hood welded shut. Deming taught the benefits and values of breaking down barriers, fostering collaboration, and openness to change. But proprietary software defeats all those concepts. It begs the customer to trust a software secret as more valuable and important than all the other principles of quality management.