Volkswagen said today (23 August) the automobile would evolve into a central hub in the Internet of Things.
“VWs will increasingly become digital devices on wheels,” sales chief Juergen Stackmann told a press conference in Berlin.
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“Our customers will become part of an ecosystem that we have named ‘We’. This system complements the experience on wheels and enables customers to take their world into their vehicle,” he said, adding the brand hoped open interfaces would also encourage third parties to participate in creating a strong community by contributing their own software.
Chief strategy executive Michael Jost said software and associated services would make a significant contribution to differentiation in the automobile industry in future.
“To deal with this development, we need to reinvent the automobile in some ways.”
That includes a redesigned, much simpler vehicle IT architecture, which will appear in the ID family of electric models from 2020. This IT architecture dispenses with a large number of separate control units that run on manufacturer-specific software – today, there are as many as 70 such units in a vehicle. Instead, vehicle intelligence will be concentrated in just a few computers with a unified programming language. In future the software will come from one source – the customer will experience services based on the vw.OS automotive operating system.
Jost said: “Separating the hardware from the software lays the groundwork for continuous updates and upgrades.”
The company said 2020 would be a turning point for the brand. While today, some 1.5m vehicles with no online access can already connect with the Internet thanks to a retrofit, VW begins connecting its entire fleet in 2020 so, each year, over 5m new vehicles will then become part of the Internet of Things.
It has also realigned its sales model to keep the ecosystem as open and accessible as possible. For the first time, the new dealer contracts allow VW to engage direct with customers over the vehicle’s entire life cycle. Customers can thus receive tailor-made offers without having to make an appointment with a workshop.
The backbone of the ecosystem will be a group-wide, primarily cloud-based platform, the One Digital Platform (ODP) based mainly on cloud technology and connecting the car, customer and services. The ODP ensures the connection with IT architecture comprising VW services or those of external but integrated partners.
VW is spearheading the development of the OPD in collaboration with the group brands, seeking additional external support and will announce cooperation projects and partnerships.
By 2025, VW said, it intends to play a leading role in the new automobile industry, set up innovative mobility solutions and become the world market leader in e-mobility. The focus is on the evolution from an automaker to a mobility service provider with a connected fleet.
The brand is planning to spend EUR3.5bn on its digitalisation offensive during this period and intends to generate sales revenue running into billions from digital offerings and services.
