Auto Software in Focus After Volkswagen Flap – Wall Street Journal

Car makers woo customers with promises of speed, acceleration and braking distance. Less sexy is the increasingly critical element that helps them deliver that performance: the software.

In the case of Volkswagen AG, it was software that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says allowed about 500,000 U.S.-sold Volkswagen-made cars to run cleaner when they were being tested for emissions, compared with when they were actually…