Volkswagen: By 2028 the car will be 'built around software'

German giant promises leap to digital-centric vehicles within four years

By: Filippo Einaudi

Mar 16, 2024 at 6:56am ET

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As it continues (not without effort) on the road to electrification, Volkswagen has planned the next stage of its industrial revolution, announcing that it will launch its first vehicle designed around software by 2028.

This is a process that involves all the manufacturers to some extent, as a natural development of an increasingly massive digitisation that combines advances in connectivity with those on safety and autonomous driving, leading precisely to the conception of cars designed around the digital platform rather than the physical one.

Starting with Audi and Volkswagen

As Group CEO Oliver Blume said during his speech at last Wednesday's financial results conference, reported by Automotive News, by 2028 the German giant hopes to have completed development of the first Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) models under the Audi and Volkswagen brands.

It will not be a pioneering position, as other manufacturers have stated that they want to achieve the same result with earlier deadlines (Renault, for example, has this milestone on its calendar as early as 2026), but it is considered a milestone in addressing the near future of mobility.

The evolution of software in Volkswagen cars

Many efforts, many benefits

This orientation promises to simplify design and development, offer better services, better attract and retain customers who are increasingly attentive to digital services and, last but not least, improve profitability by proposing a new model of economy of scale that, according to surveys, including one carried out by the Accenture company cited by Automotive News, will increase turnover in the sector by as much as 40% in the future.

To get there, however, will require another phase of 'tears and blood', because it will be necessary to once again revolutionise the approach to platform design itself, really thinking of the car as a self-propelled smartphone instead of a vehicle.

Volkswagen is working on this together with its Cariad division, founded a few years ago precisely to accelerate the development of new digital systems and create its own, original, native software platforms, making itself as independent as possible from external suppliers.

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However, it does not exclude making this technology available to others within the framework of strategic collaborations and optimisations, as it did for instance with the MEB electric platform shared with Ford for some vehicles.

The Group has also streamlined its bureaucratic procedures to make decision-making processes faster, demonstrating that tightening the timeframe is a priority.