Automakers and the "Software Explosion"

[JR Crosmer <jrc@calvin.cca.rockwell.com>]

In the 10-28 edition of the EE Times is an article discussing the
explosive growth of software in the world of automobile makers.
The article refers repeatedly to the safety and reliablilty issue.
It also refers to engine control sw to have more than 100 000 lines
of code.  (I infer from the context the author is refering to 
mostly asm code since the reference is to the possiblity of 
using C instead!)

It seems that the auto makers are finally realizing what the airline
industry has known all along, i.e., they need substantially improved
sw development methods as well as needing highly reliable and safety
critical sw (to be read as not prone to huge law suits).  

If they are indeed serious about the issues raised, are the automakers
even considering Ada as a realtime, embedded language (designed to be
such) that HELPS to produce maintainable and reliable code?  
The EE Times article indicates that C is a major step up from 
asm code.  Why not a REAL step up???

JR Crosmer