The End of the Engine: Why Ford’s Rock Stars Are Being Replaced by Coders

For a century, engineers were the rock stars of the auto industry. Now, they’re being replaced by chemists and coders. As Ford pivots to EVs, engine specialists are expendable, their intricate craft reduced to a modular, software-driven process. Is this progress, or is the auto industry losing its soul?

Lem Yeung spent 30 years at Ford perfecting internal-combustion engines. Then came the EV revolution, where batteries replaced pistons and Silicon Valley engineers took over.

Ford’s push for electrification meant Yeung’s expertise, once central, was suddenly outdated. Even though gas-powered trucks still fund Ford’s profits, the company is betting big on EVs, hiring from Apple, Google, and Tesla while phasing out its own engine experts.

• EVs need fewer engineers, cutting jobs for mechanical specialists.
• Ford’s legacy advantage, building complex engines, no longer matters.
• Battery expertise is shifting power to tech firms and Asian manufacturers.

The car industry is no longer about horsepower, it’s about software. As EVs reshape competition, will legacy automakers keep up, or are they building their own demise?

Read the full article on IEEE Spectrum.

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