Volkswagen has been facing many challenges with its software development for many of its models, not just electric cars. Even the Volkswagen Golf faced difficulties, forcing the deliveries of this crucial model to stop.
That is why this Friday, Volkswagen has confirmed two critical milestones. On one hand, it has broken the alliance it had with BMW and Daimler for the development of autonomous driving systems. An agreement that has been made impossible according to sources due to the bad relationship between BMW and Daimler and has finally caused a divorce with very profound consequences for both companies.
Moreover, Volkswagen will continue their work of developing its software, while BMW and Daimler will have to start practically from scratch. Something that will undoubtedly have a substantial impact.
That same day Christian Senger, Volkswagen’s chief software officer, confirmed the creation of the VW subsidiary Car.Software Org. He also reported developing their operating system that will be gradually installed in all new vehicles between 2022 and 2025, which VW will fully develop.
The Volkswagen operating system, which will be provisionally named VW.OS will become a software base for each vehicle in the group. It will have the ability to be adapted and expanded with new functions, such as autonomous driving.
The Wolfsburg-based company has finally decided to take the bull by the horns. The group will invest something close to 7 million dollars in Car.Software.org, where thousands of experts from the group’s brands will be recruited throughout this year. Audi, Porsche, VW, which will be joined by the best talents of the divisions in the United States, China, India, and Israel, which will be grouped under the same organization chart.
The goal is not only to transform this division into a large software company but also a supplier to serve other clients in the sector who need solutions of this style and need an operating system for their new models.
The idea is to replicate the success of Android but applied to software for cars. An operating system that will be available for all brands. It will be based on Linux and released in the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 in the short term as well as from 2022 on the new electric models of Porsche and Audi, and 2025 in all the new models of the group.
Furthermore, we will also possibly see it in the not too distant future in other German brands, which will see that software development is not an economic or straightforward thing. They should have addressed it many years before when they saw how brands like Tesla launched into their frantic development to reach these heights with the same high level of maturity, and has been ignored by some groups that now have before them a wall of gigantic proportions to overcome.