“Differentiation will be possible through software”

What’s #NEWAUTO? Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess talks to The Verge about how software is changing the car and why the Volkswagen Group founded CARIAD. Below, you can find some of the key messages about CARIAD from the discussion. To read the full article and listen to the episode of the Decoder podcast, click here.

Herbert Diess on…

… the role that CARIAD plays within the Volkswagen Group

“We think that we have a good chance to also become very competitive in software if we build a common basic software for all the brands. This is exactly why we founded CARIAD: to get from a world where we bought software with the embedded systems to our own software stack. The brands have all the tools and all the freedom to differentiate for sportiness, for comfort – for all sorts of different use cases. This is why we think we are well set up for this new world, where economies of scale will probably play a bigger role than in this old auto world. Differentiation will probably be more difficult, but through software, it will be very, very possible.”

… synergies and scale effects

“CARIAD will help us because bundling all the synergies in the Group is 10 million cars every year. We have a chance for the right economy of scale. We are also open to third parties to deliver: we will not close the windows for Google, because we are working in some car lines with Google support. We have a good relationship, but Google knows that we will try very, very hard to stay independent.”

… autonomous driving

“[…] The other way we are pushing is private mobility: we have the Audi team and CARIAD team working on that because we think that autonomous driving will not only cover this area of robotaxis, but also private cars. Step by step: first we tackle driving at Level 3 or Level 4 on open highways – German Autobahns – and then we get into more complex areas. This will happen at the same time. It’s two different technologies. Some of our approaches involve sharing computing technology. Some sensors are shared — but ultimately those tasks are so different. At one stage, you think about a completely autonomous car, which is able to handle an area right from the start. On the other hand, you think about driving at higher speeds in a less complex area in a car that is also able to take over from a driver for a certain period of time.”