Strengthening global Infotainment & Digital Experience expertise

Lei Zhang will start in his new position as co-lead of the Interior, Infotainment & Digital Experience (IIX) department in May. He will also lead the U.S. tech teams as CEO of CARIAD Inc. Previously, Lei Zhang worked as VP Digital Cockpit and Software Development at NIO.

CARIAD CEO Peter Bosch welcomes Zhang in his new position. “With Lei, one of the leading experts for infotainment technology joins CARIAD. He has a great track record of converting innovative ideas and technologies into exciting customer experiences and successful commercial products. Lei’s tech background and extensive expertise in building Android OS will help us deliver leading user experiences to all Volkswagen Group brands”, said Peter. Lei Zhang will share responsibilities for the IIX team with Michel Bensel.

Lei Zhang has 16+ years of hands-on experience in the technology industry and specializes in Android, embedded Linux, automotive IVI, mobile applications, machine learning, and web services. The trained computer engineer has a track record in leading international software R&D teams. After working at Microsoft and as Tech Lead Manager for Android Automotive at Google, he held the position as VP Software and Chief Architect at Huami, a Xiaomi ecological chain company that develops wearables. He joined NIO in 2019 and most recently headed the company’s digital cockpit business as VP Digital Cockpit and Software Development.

In addition to his position as co-lead of the IIX team, Zhang follows Scott Runner as CEO of CARIAD Inc.

“I would like to thank Scott Runner for his work and the dedication he showed over the past year. He has built a strong US team for CARIAD that we will leverage even more in the technical value creation in future.”  

How CARIAD benefits from US tech expertise

CARIAD’s US software engineering teams are located in Silicon Valley and Seattle. The region offers great talent and an innovative eco-system, which CARIAD is part of. Infotainment is one of the key factors for a competitive in-vehicle customer experience and will become even more important in the future. The goal is to build a global team that will develop leading user experience across all Volkswagen Group brands. To this end, Lei Zhang will lead the Interior, Infotainment and Digital Experience (IIX) team globally in a collaborative leadership. The IIX department allows CARIAD to bundle all customer touchpoints in and around the vehicle to create a seamless customer experience.

The teams have already delivered several solutions to the brands of the Volkswagen Group: the e-route planner, which automatically integrates charging stops along the route, a uniform Group Application Store, which brings a new in-car cabin to users. The teams also work on the Augmented Reality Head-up Display in the new Audi Q6 e-tron and the electric Porsche Macan, the Group Digital Assistant for the E³ 1.2 as well as the App Toolkit, which brings customized mobile device apps to the brands of the Volkswagen Group.