Barr Group's experienced automotive software expert witnesses advise attorneys in product liability and intellectual property cases. All of our experts in automotive systems technology have hands-on experience designing electronic systems for cars and trucks. Barr Group experts have testified in high-profile multi-million dollar class action jury trials.
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Electronic Automotive Systems
Motorcycles, cars, and trucks are increasingly powered by networks of embedded systems, each of which is a combination of software and electronics. Some modern vehicles have over one hundred processors and when even one of these electronic automotive systems malfunctions, the results can be deadly. Barr Group is in the business of designing reliable and secure computers and our team of expert software engineers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers is intimately familiar with electronic automotive subsystems including:
- Engine control units (ECU) and transmissions
- Anti-lock braking systems (ABS)
- Navigation systems and GPS
- Airbag controllers and electronic data recorders (EDR)
- Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
- Automotive vision systems and self-driving technologies
- Other vehicle safety and security systems
- In-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and telematics like OnStar
- CAN busses and related SAE network protocols
- Hybrid and electric vehicles and battery charging
Barr Group's software experts are familiar with all of the operating systems used by carmakers, including real-time operating systems like OSEK and QNX, and Android/Linux, as well as all programming languages such as assembly, C, C++, and Matlab. And we are just as comfortable with electronic circuits and ASICs and the Verilog and VHDL languages.
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Expert Witness Services
Barr Group's automotive software experts support plaintiffs and defendants in litigation in U.S. District Courts, at the International Trade Commission (ITC), and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Our services include:
- Technical assistance with drafting of discovery requests
- Software source code review and analysis
- Source code comparisons for copyright and trade secret theft
- Analysis of electronics and related design documents
- Prior art review for patent invalidity
- Reverse engineering, including disassembly of binary code
- Forensic analysis and accident reconstruction
- Crash data retrieval and analysis
- Expert reports, declarations, and witness statements
- Testimony at deposition, oral hearings, and trials
Our experience with automotive litigation is extensive and includes source code analysis and testimony in the runaway Toyota economic loss and personal injury cases as well as in suits relating to excess VW diesel emissions, faulty MyFord Touch subsystems, and deadly GM ignition switches.
Barr Group has a demonstrated ability to quickly activate one or more code reviewers to match the size, scope, and complexity of any project.
The following is a representative subset of Barr Group's experts who have experience designing and/or testifying about these technologies:
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A leader in the field of connected vehicle technologies with three decades of focus on accessing...
Mechanical and electrical engineering consultant and professor with decades of experience in...
Automotive engineer with over twenty five years of experience in road and race vehicle...
Independent consultant and electrical engineer with more than four decades of industry...
Chemist and consultant with four decades of experience in the area of electrochemical energy...
Electrical engineer and expert in battery and power electronics technology with special...
Experienced electrochemist, consultant, and adjunct professor of materials science and...
Technology consultant with more than thirty years of experience in battery, materials, and...
Experienced computer engineer and corporate information technology leader with a successful...
Independent engineering consultant in the design of both electronics and software with a formal...
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Case Study: Runaway Toyotas
In support of automotive product liability lawsuits and a class action against Toyota, a team of Barr Group automotive software experts performed an extensive source code review of the engine control unit software for seven Toyota and Lexus models spanning the 2002 to 2010 model years. In analyzing these millions of lines of automotive software source code, the Barr Group team built upon a prior NASA review and concluded they'd found what NASA's engineers sought: “a systematic software malfunction in the Main CPU."