When automotive software and autonomous driving have become the key technologies in the automotive industry, how to define the car by card slot software has become an important issue for car companies.
Recently, it was reported that Volkswagen Group is discussing with Huawei Automotive BU the acquisition of the project team of the latter's autonomous driving division, and plans to announce further information at the end of March. Prior to this, there was news that Volkswagen intended to acquire Huawei's autonomous driving research and development business for billions of euros. In response, Volkswagen China responded that there was no official news, and Huawei said it would not comment.
In fact, in the transformation of electrification and intelligence, volkswagen group shows the attitude of All In, such as the Planning Round 70 plan, the next five years of software and electric vehicles and other technology investment of up to 89 billion euros, global CEO Herbert Diess personally responsible for the self-developed software business Cariad, etc.; Diess is frankly saying that what will really change the game in the future is software and autonomous driving.
The scandal has been going on for a long time: Experts say an acquisition is unlikely or that they will work more closely together
As early as the end of last year, there was news in the industry that Volkswagen would set up a joint venture related to autonomous driving research and development with Huawei to develop autonomous driving technology, which aims to provide autonomous driving technology solutions to Volkswagen as a supplier; at that time, Volkswagen China responded that there was no official news, and Huawei directly said that it was not true. In January this year, regarding the cooperation between Volkswagen and Huawei, Volkswagen China CEO Feng Sihan publicly stated that Volkswagen and Huawei were indeed discussing, and there was no confirmable news at this stage, and mentioned that "including the establishment of a joint venture between the two sides"
In fact, the cooperation between Volkswagen and Huawei has a long history, dating back to 2015, at the CES Asia Show in May 2015, Volkswagen and Huawei jointly announced a global cooperation in the Internet of Vehicles, but mainly based on the connection of smartphones and cars. In July last year, Huawei and Volkswagen jointly released the "full-stack integrated simulation platform" solution, which is the first large-scale application of similar solutions in China's automotive industry; Volkswagen officials have repeatedly publicly stated that they have maintained cooperative relations with Huawei.
If you look closely, in 2018, Huawei and the Audi brand of Volkswagen Group signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in Berlin, Germany, and the two sides carried out in-depth cooperation in the field of L4 level intelligent driving, and the results achieved will be the first to supply Audi models; in 2021, Audi and Huawei said at the Shanghai Auto Show that they are cooperating in the research and development of L2+ level intelligent driving, and revealed that domestic models after Audi may also be equipped with ADS systems from Huawei.
For the future cooperation between Volkswagen and Huawei, the industry speculates that there are three possibilities, one is the previously rumored Volkswagen acquisition of Huawei's autonomous driving research and development business, the other is the acquisition of the project team of the autonomous driving department under Huawei's automotive BU, and the last is that Volkswagen and Huawei form a joint venture. Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, believes that "it is feasible for Volkswagen to cooperate with Huawei, but the rumors of Volkswagen's acquisition of Huawei's autonomous driving department are question marks, which involve many factors, such as Huawei's long-term layout in the automotive industry, if sold to Volkswagen, it means that its foundation is unstable." ”
"Huawei will not let Volkswagen acquire its autonomous driving division, from Huawei's point of view, it hopes to cooperate with all car manufacturers through autonomous driving technology to jointly promote the development of autonomous driving technology, rather than serving a certain car brand." Zheng Yi, an analyst in the automotive industry, believes that "Volkswagen and Huawei will cooperate more closely." ”
"Volkswagen and Huawei are both strong in their respective fields, and Volkswagen will not be willing to give its 'soul' to Huawei, and Huawei will not be willing to serve only one car company." Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, said, "The establishment of a joint venture between the two sides is the best cooperation model, Huawei provides technical support, and Volkswagen provides funds and products. ”
Short board weakness: the embarrassment of the software transformation of traditional auto giants
As software-defined vehicles become the consensus of the automotive industry, as a traditional car industry giant, Volkswagen Group has begun to accelerate its transformation in software layout, autonomous driving layout, and intelligence.
In 2019, Volkswagen and Ford formed a joint venture for autonomous driving and electric vehicles; in 2020, Volkswagen allied with Ford and completed a huge investment of $2.6 billion in ArgoAI, a U.S. self-driving software startup, while Volkswagen also agreed to buy $500 million in Argo AI shares from Ford within three years.
With the technical support of Argo AI, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles announced in February last year that the all-electric minibus ID.BUZZ will become the first model of Volkswagen to have L4 level autonomous driving capabilities; in 2025, Volkswagen will introduce an autonomous driving system for the car.
In the layout of the self-developed progressive route, in 2019, the Volkswagen Group established a 500-person Car.Software software research and development department; on this basis, in 2020, the wholly-owned software subsidiary CARIAD was established, and the Volkswagen Group plans to invest an average of $2.5 billion per year in the CARIAD global software platform. At the same time, in January this year, CARIAD and Bosch established a partnership in Germany, and from 2023, volkswagen group brand models will introduce L2 and L3 autonomous driving functions that meet the definition of the Association of Automotive Engineers, and evaluate the possibility of jointly developing fully autonomous driving (L4).
However, volkswagen group software layout and intelligent transformation are not smooth. Previously, due to frequent operating system problems, the time to market for the assembly model ID.3 point was repeatedly postponed. Former Audi R&D director Mo Peter once said bluntly about Volkswagen's software problems, "In order to solve the software problem of ID.3, the Volkswagen Group has set up a team of 10,000 IT engineers, but these problems only need 100 or even 50 excellent engineers to solve." Nonetheless, none of the id.3 codes were written by the public. ”
"Volkswagen started laying out the software business three years ago, but at present, the results are limited." Zhang Xiang analyzed that "one of the reasons why the sales of Volkswagen ID. series models in 2021 did not meet expectations in the Chinese market is that there is a certain gap between its software system capabilities and new car-making forces. "The industry generally believes that in the transformation of the new four modernizations, the automotive industry has entered the era of software definition, and the multi-product development logic of the Volkswagen Group will need to be remade, and it is in urgent need of improving software capabilities to cope with the competition in the new era."
In fact, in the eyes of the Volkswagen Group, software determines success or failure. Diess bluntly said, "What will really change the game in the future is software and autonomous driving." Software will account for 90% of future automotive innovations. Last year, the Volkswagen Group reorganized its cabinet, and Diess shifted its focus to the group business while remaining the CEO of the group, and from January 1 this year, it was fully responsible for the carIAD business of the software company. At the same time, volkswagen group announced the Planning Round 70 plan, which will invest 89 billion euros in software and electric vehicles and other technologies, accounting for 56% of the total investment, and raise software and autonomous driving to an important position, planning to equip all its brands with self-developed software systems by 2030, and software-related sales will reach 1.2 trillion euros in 2030.
Diess recently again publicly expressed optimism about the prospects of autonomous driving, saying that the automotive industry will achieve the popularization of autonomous driving technology within 25 years, while saying that Volkswagen is seeking further cooperation to improve its self-sufficiency in software and add features such as specific brands of voice assistants to its automotive products.
"The complexity of automotive software is more than 10 times that of aircraft, the Volkswagen Group has less technical accumulation and experience in software, research and development requires a lot of capital investment, and due to high standards, it is difficult to see results in the short term, in this context, cooperation is a very feasible method." Zhang Xiang said, "In fact, in the future, more and more car companies will launch alliances to jointly bear the cost of software research and development, and form a certain standard." ”
Beijing News reporter Wang Linlin Editor Xu Chao Proofreader Zhao Lin
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