The young software division of the Volkswagen Group, CARIAD, has been more than a headache for the company’s leadership in recent years, to the point that its malfunction was one of the main causes of its fall from grace. from Herbert Diess, the manufacturer’s former CEO. His replacement, Oliver Blume, is trying to right the situation.
The first models based on the MEB modular platform (ID.3, ID.4) suffered from certain software failures due to the haste of the launch of the 1.1 electronic architecture. In addition, problems developing architectures 1.2 and 2.0 have caused the arrival of the PPE and SSP platforms to be postponed to 2024 and 2028 respectively.
To solve these setbacks once and for all, Volkswagen has announced the hiring of Sanjay Lal, a Rivian and Tesla veteran who will be responsible for leading CARIAD’s new Software Defined Vehicle Center.
«Sanjay is someone from whom we can all expect a lot. He is a true expert in software-defined vehicles; Together with him we will develop a competitive advantage for the brands and the Volkswagen Group,” declares CARIAD CEO, Peter Bosch.
The Volkswagen Group has been forced to postpone the launch of the PPE and SSP platforms
“Speed is the new imperative to remain competitive,” Blume himself stated just a few weeks ago, emphasizing the importance of accelerating the company’s future developments. Last summer, several top CARIAD executives were fired as part of a deep internal restructuring.
“The development work on the SDV [Software Defined Vehicle] Hub will also form the basis for scaling the E³ 2.0 architecture across the Volkswagen Group. With the next-generation architecture E³ 2.0, the Volkswagen Group aims to take a decisive step ahead of the competition.
In the coming years, Volkswagen will begin to standardize the hardware of its electric cars as much as possible, to the point that customers will only be able to choose the color of the body, the design of the wheels, and the size of the battery pack. The rest of the equipment and customization options can be obtained through software updates throughout the useful life of the vehicle, opening a new business avenue for the German conglomerate.