Volkswagen gets more active in software development with new Car.Software division

Volkswagen is reducing its dependency on software partnerships and changing gears to develop its own in-vehicle software. This shift begins on July 1 when the car manufacturer’s newly founded internal organization Car.Software changes from the start phase to the operating mode. This emerges from an online keynote speech delivered on Friday by Christian Senger, CEO of Car.Software.

Car.Software does exactly what it promises. According to a company statement announcing the establishment of the internal start-up in November last year, it is an independent business unit within the Volkswagen Group dedicated to the “Development of car software and software for digital ecosystems”.

According to Senger, VW’s current share in the software of its cars is less than 10%, the rest comes from development partnerships with large IT groups, Tier 1 providers and other third-party software. (This is quite common in the automotive industry.) By 2025, the automaker plans to increase this to a majority of 60%, which means that its own software and platforms will be created and developed.

A bigger hand in its car software allows VW to have more control (and quality control) over the technology that runs its cars. We’re not just talking about infotainment. With the advent of software-controlled vehicle systems (such as drive-by-wire and shift-by-wire), fully electric cars, driver assistance systems and soon also autonomous vehicles, vehicle software is more important than ever.

“Volkswagen wants to keep control of the entire vehicle architecture – this also includes electronics,” said Senger. “We cannot give third parties full access to data in our vehicles.” Volkswagen sees maintaining software control as a key element in securing long-term competitiveness and security.

A large part of VW Car.Software’s plan to resume the bits and bytes that turn the wheels is the development of a common VW.OS, which will ultimately serve as a uniform technical backbone for all vehicles of the VW Group. This networked software platform is supported by the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud and offers extended wireless updates for VW vehicles, dashboard software and product downloads for drivers, as well as extensive data collection for developers.

“The Automotive Cloud is ready for technical use. We are expanding its range of functions and preparing to connect the first vehicle models,” said Senger.

In the early days, the first wave of VW ID electrics will continue to use VW’s contemporary Modular Electric Propulsion Platform software, with the Premium Platform Electric developed by Audi and Porsche going online around 2022. Then there is a transition period that leads to the introduction of the new VW.OS around 2025.

Friday’s announcement comes amid reports of numerous software bugs that have resulted in delays in launching the automaker’s upcoming electric ID 3 hatchback in the summer. Against this background, the goals of Car.Software could be interpreted as a reaction from VW to the lessons learned from the development of the ID 3. However, the automaker did not directly confirm this assumption during a Q&A according to Sengers Keynote.

The move from an internal startup to a fully functional business unit next month means that the company will expand its budget, goals and staff. VW assumes that Car.Software will employ and employ around 5,000 specialists worldwide by the end of 2020 – mainly in Europe, around a third in China and the rest between India, Israel and the USA – and will continue to grow from there.