VW Takes Software Development In-House

Volkswagen AG has created a 5,000-member software team whose goal is to create a single operating system for all new models.

Called Car.Software, the unit will begin by developing software packages in five areas: automated driving, body/cockpit, connectivity, service/mobility and vehicle energy management.

VW says the new group will start this year with about 500 experts in automated driving, cloud architecture, connectivity, e-commerce, electrical and electronic components, software and user experience. The company expects to expand the team to 2,000 members by the end of next year.

The Car.Software unit will hike the proportion of software development VW performs in-house to more than 60% by 2025 from the less than 10% today, VW says.

The company notes that its VW brand vehicles alone must currently integrate as many as 70 electronic control units from 200 suppliers. Standardizing how those components interact will significantly lower the cost of integrating software on a model-by-model basis, VW predicts.