Automation in Model-Driven Engineering: A look back, and ahead

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) provides a huge body of knowledge of automation for many different engineering tasks, especially those involving transitioning from design to implementation. With the huge progress made in Artificial Intelligence (AI), questions arise about the future of MDE, such as how existing MDE techniques and technologies can be improved or how other activities that currently lack dedicated support can also be automated. However, at the same time, it has to be revisited where and how models should be used to keep the engineers in the loop for creating, operating, and maintaining complex systems. To trigger dedicated research on these open points, we discuss the history of automation in MDE and present perspectives on how automation in MDE can be further improved and which obstacles have to be overcome in both the medium and long-term.