not being well versed in the embedded/industrial field, I wonder if there is any group of automotive specific engineers/suppliers looking at how electronics are made for these things. I assume there is expertise over the decades electronics esp infotainment systems being a "thing" in cars, not to mention aerospace, etc.
I do recall the Nav/infotainment unit on a 1st gen prius going out, and the problem was traced to the solder between some daughterboard deteriorating after ~4-5 years. Replacement units were hard to come by and expensive on the secondhand/junkyard market...
Yes, automotive manufacturing is a tiered system with the OEMs (Tesla, GM, Toyota, Volkswagen etc) at Tier 0.
Tier 1 suppliers deliver high level, ready to install components like radios, seats, electronic control modules, etc
Tier 2 suppliers deliver subcomponents like boards
Tier 3 deliver chips etc
OEMs generally come up with a list of component requirements like temp ranges and wearability/durability. The supplier community then bids based on that spec. Of course once one OEM asks for something, it becomes to other OEMs after a period of time; so there are a LOT of common components and subcomponents.
Engineering for those specs and testing and proving that you conform to those specs both costs a lot of money and is worth a lot to OEMs who have to provide warranties to their customers.
Edit: The supplier contract also makes the supplier responsible for warrantee on that component; the OEM bears final responsibility, but they will try to make the supplier pay for component failures when they can. (This is not precisely correct, I am not a lawyer, I am not your lawyer)
Disclaimer/source: I work for GM, not on vehicle engineering. Everything in this comment is solely my own opinion
Does anyone know what % of Tesla parts come from Tier 1 suppliers? It appears that Tesla has the most vertical integration among all OEMs, leading to problems like this due to lack of experience or engineering depth.
I don't have a percent, but it is believed to be very low.
It cuts both ways though. Tesla does have the potential to improve in house processes quicker than going through suppliers, especially since they have access to extremely cheap capital.
I do recall the Nav/infotainment unit on a 1st gen prius going out, and the problem was traced to the solder between some daughterboard deteriorating after ~4-5 years. Replacement units were hard to come by and expensive on the secondhand/junkyard market...