Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1536171
44 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2025 For PCB designers, just hearing the word "autorouters" can trigger everything from eye rolls to heated debate. We all have stories— some painful, some comical—of boards gone sideways at the hands of an overzealous rout- ing algorithm. But these tools aren't going away, and frankly, they shouldn't. Used wisely, they can save some project teams hours or even days. Used blindly, they can cost weeks. So, where do autorouting tools stand today, and is interactive routing the smarter path forward? Let's be honest, autorouters didn't earn their bad rep for nothing. Back in the day, running a full autorouter was a bit like rolling the dice: You didn't know what you would get, but it probably Target Condition Feature Column by Kelly Dack, CIT, CID+ Are Autorouters Friend or Foe? wasn't pretty. e results were oen a tangled mess of vias, long trace lengths, and question- able design choices that no self-respecting engi- neer would sign off on. We treated autorouting the way you treat a week-old fish taco le on the lab bench: technically still there and available, but you'd really rather not eat it. at said, routers have changed. Today's autorouters are much smarter. ey under- stand constraints, manage differential pairs, and even tiptoe around impedance consider- ations—most of the time. ey are less of a bull in a china shop and more like an over-eager intern: It needs supervision, but it might help you out if you guide it.