Uncharted territory: Designing systems for services that do not yet exist
Shota Sawada
TIER IV PEOPLE shines a light on the people and teams whose unique experiences, backgrounds, and stories bring our mission to life. In this installment, we caught up with Shota Sawada to find out about the work being done on authentication and authorization systems at TIER IV.
— What is your role as an authentication and authorization engineer at TIER IV?
I’m mainly responsible for the development of the authentication and authorization system for Web.Auto. [Web.Auto is a cloud-based DevOps platform and toolchain for developing and operating autonomous driving systems.] It has an ID infrastructure that manages user accounts, and an authorization infrastructure that manages permission management mechanisms and API authorization across all Web.Auto services.
One distinctive aspect is that we cater to both end users and TIER IV developers. The system we’ve developed enables Web.Auto users to log in to various services with a single ID. The system also features role-based access control, so system administrators can manage permissions based on user roles in autonomous driving projects.
TIER IV developers are also users of the authorization infrastructure. The system is responsible for authorizing all API requests for Web.Auto. Service developers don't need to implement authorization separately for each service. Web.Auto offers a consistent authorization management system for both end users and API users. Web.Auto has several services related to the development and operation of autonomous driving, and it is necessary to assign permissions based on the purpose of each service.
— Please share some of your team’s technical challenges and future goals.
While the necessary functionality is all in place, there are still areas for improvement. End users, service developers, and even myself at times find things inconvenient or hard to understand. I want to address these issues one by one so that Web.Auto, which handles complex permissions, provides optimal and easy-to-use permission management functions.
We recently replaced our ID infrastructure. Using open-source software developed by Ory. We were able to release it smoothly in a short period of time. We aim to contribute to the open-source community through the work being done at TIER IV and by leveraging other open-source resources.
— How did you arrive at TIER IV?
I used to work for a company that operated a crowdsourcing site, and I also gained a lot of experience working on IT infrastructure development projects. I was headhunted for the role at TIER IV. After I was contacted, I looked into the company and learned about the advances in autonomous driving. I felt that the technology has the potential to transform society and enrich people's lives. I thought it would be interesting to be involved.
I'd worked on all kinds of systems up until that point, which might sound impressive, but in some ways I felt a bit like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I wanted to build a career where I could specialize and clearly define my area of expertise. With that goal in mind, I decided to join TIER IV.
— What were your expectations before you joined?
I had the impression that there is high demand for authentication and authorization engineers at established companies. It’s rare to find such a position at a startup like TIER IV, which is essentially building something from the ground up.
In this field, there are standardized best practices such as OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0. However, developers need to tailor systems for each service. Exploring what kind of authorization is needed for an uncharted service like autonomous driving was a great opportunity to tackle the unknown.
— What do you find interesting about your role?
I imagined that working with automobiles would involve using traditional, established technologies to build things. I was surprised to find an environment where the focus was tackling challenges. There’s a culture that encourages trying new things, and there are many opportunities to gain new perspectives during discussions and reviews.
Even among web engineers, there are people with different backgrounds. Some, like me, came from mid-sized service developers, while others hail from big ventures or contract development companies. I realized how different the approaches to B2B and B2C development can be.
Since each service has different developers, the designs also vary, so it's a learning experience to discover new approaches. On the other hand, keeping up with different design implementations can be challenging.
My team works creatively to ensure the development process is highly productive, while also providing a user-friendly platform for end users and developers, both inside and outside the company. This, in turn, helps boost the productivity of other teams as well. It’s a fulfilling responsibility.
In the current phase of the company, it’s common to prioritize speed when it comes to implementing and releasing features. However, we’re good at finding the right balance between the design of systems and features, and how to deliver value as quickly as possible.
— Do you have a message for prospective job candidates?
TIER IV is looking for engineers to join the Web.Auto team. Before I joined, I found it difficult to imagine what kind of development work web engineers do at an autonomous driving company. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll arrange an informal interview.
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TIER IV is always on the lookout for passionate individuals to join our journey. If you share our vision of making autonomous driving accessible to all, get in touch.
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