Documentation as Code in Automotive System/Software Engineering

Abstract

Documentation as Code (DaC) is an approach that applies the principles of software development to the production of technical documentation. Using modern tools, DaC enables software engineers to treat documentation as a first-class citizen in the development process, alongside code and tests. In this paper, we discuss the advantages of DaC in system and software engineering, including improved accuracy, traceability, and maintainability. In the automotive industry, DaC has been used to document various aspects of vehicle development, such as requirements, design, testing, and compliance. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in DaC in the automotive industry and discusses the potential benefits and challenges of using this approach. In addition, case studies and examples of how DaC has been used in the automotive industry to improve the quality and maintainability of documentation are presented. This research has been conducted with more than 150 engineers actively contributing to DaC on the project for more than a year within a company, so the scalability of the presented solution has been tested. Finally, a set of guidelines is provided for teams to follow when adopting DaC to ensure successful implementation.