And now it has happened!

Toyota’s apologies and admissions of failures, coupled with the recall of about 500,000 vehicles or more, illustrates the point I have been making…that it is very very important to ensure that the highest standards of software engineering are applied to certain situations, and that IT professionals should be doing this job and no-one else.

There is a basic human right at stake here. The right to be safe in a motor vehicle.

There are controls in the construction and engineering professions already – you have to be registered before you are permitted to take on large jobs. And if it breaks you are accountable. Similarly for doctors, lawyers and host of other professions in which an enforceable Code of Practice is fundamental to the profession.

But not so in IT. We are only 60 years old as a profession and I have spent the last 40 of these working in IT. We do not have a universal professional structure in place which is backed up by legislation. Anyone can claim to be a programmer or an IT specialist.

My point is that we should be differentiating those programs and systems which have substantial impact and risk, and should be enforcing a rule that only fully accredited professionals tackle such jobs.

I do believe that I have a right to know that the software engineering and programmers who built and tested software that controls the accelerator and brakes on my vehicles were professionals and completely competent for this task.

Perhaps I am now a little worried about what happens when I put my foot down on the pedals and wonder whether my vehicle is reacting as it should. Perhaps I am starting to distrust all advanced vehicle systems. Perhaps the machines are finally taking over!

Let us watch this situation evolve and inspect the outcome, and whether the fix is yet another program with bugs. Perhaps let us, as a profession, take the time to help Toyota and to bring the best minds in the world to bear. After all, it is in all of our interests!

I admit that I know nothing of Toyota’s competence in this area, and I am having to make certain assumptions. With their track record I assume that these were tested and certified at the highest level of professionalism. But how high do we have to go to ensure that such software is 100% correct, and not just 99.999%.

My concern is that Toyota is just the exemplar of the larger question I am asking here – “Who is qualified to approve that critical software is correct?”