How CARIAD powers one of the largest connected vehicle fleets

Connecting the car to the internet enables the continuous integration of new features and services – from advanced navigation and exciting infotainment to safety-critical updates. 

CARIAD is building the scalable platform for the connected vehicle fleet of the Volkswagen Group, the so-called Connected Car Ecosystem. It forms the backbone for all digital customer features and enables brands like Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen, as well as CARIAD’s development teams, to create and deploy new features.

CARIAD’s Connected Car Ecosystem consists of the following 4 components that are closely interlinked.

Connectivity: Turning the car into a swam intelligence 

Connecting the vehicles to the internet is just one side of the coin – they also communicate with each other (Car2Car) and with their surroundings (Car2X). This creates a networked system of swam intelligence that drives smarter, safer mobility. Real-time communication alerts drivers about hazards – like icy roads or traffic jams – and enables data exchange with the infrastructure such as traffic lights and EV charging stations. CARIAD provides secure data channels for over-the-air (OTA) updates and vehicle diagnostics. 

Cloud Platform: Operating one of the largest automotive cloud infrastructures in the world

Seamless connectivity is the foundation of our digital lives – the automotive cloud translates this expectation to the vehicle. Every connected vehicle is registered in the cloud that forms the backbone of all digital services. CARIAD operates one of the largest automotive cloud infrastructures in the world, currently connecting over 45 million vehicles and growing. The automotive cloud for Group brands like Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche enables real-time data processing for intelligent navigation, seamless charging, highly personalized entertainment experiences, and powerful advanced driver assistance systems, among others. 

Mobile Online Services: Enabling remote control within the vehicle

A comprehensive portfolio of up to 80 mobile online services enables remote control of multiple vehicle functions. This supports extensive digital interaction with vehicle systems, e.g. via smartphone. These include:

• Mobile Online Services (MOD) such as vehicle location, remote door locking via app, and battery charge status
• Over-the-Air Updates (OTA) for new features or security patches
• Multimodal mobility services like route planning, parking reservations, or digital ridesharing
• Integration of third-party services (e.g., entertainment, smart home)

Data Platform: Managing data securely and efficiently

The data platform implements services and manages data processing in over 50 markets in compliance with regional and data regulations. Data is anonymized or deleted according to legal requirements. CARIAD follows a holistic security approach with real-time monitoring to protect vehicles and infrastructure. The goal is to consolidate all vehicle data stacks into one data solution to serve all Group brands and markets worldwide. 

The Connected Car Ecosystem offers great innovation potential: Once a vehicle is connected, additional features can be integrated across all brands and markets. For the Volkswagen Group, this represents a major competitive advantage: By connecting over 45 million vehicles in one Connected Car Ecosystem, the Group and its brands leverage powerful synergies – achieving significantly greater cost-efficiency per vehicle in the cloud.