Volkswagen Software CARIAD establishes a Subsidiary in China to dominate the Chinese ID. series of products OTA

Chen Maoli, a reporter of this newspaper, reported from Beijing

Cariad, a new software company under the Volkswagen Group, announced its China strategy and established its China subsidiary.

"China leads the world in digital applications and innovation, and consumers are increasingly demanding new features and new experiences. The establishment of the China team allows us to respond more quickly to the needs of the local market. Based on local customer experience and expectations, we will develop, iterate and continuously improve our products at Chinese speed. Changqing, CEO of CARIAD's Chinese subsidiary, told reporters such as China Business Daily.

Evergreen, CEO of CARIAD's China subsidiary

According to Evergreen, the CARIAD China team will work closely with the Group's various brands in China and three joint venture partners to provide consumers with software-defined mobility solutions and achieve group scale effects at the software level.

The reporter learned that the CARIAD China team will promote the development of software products for Chinese consumers, including the joint development of a unified and scalable new software platform, advanced driver assistance systems and automatic driving, and next-generation intelligent interconnection functions with the headquarters.

"Three steps" to build a mass software platform

It is understood that CARIAD is an automotive software company under the Volkswagen Group, promoted by Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, and the business is directly responsible for Diess. Cariad currently employs approximately 5,000 engineers and developers worldwide, bringing together top engineers from within the Volkswagen Group.

For CARIAD, Changqing introduced to reporters the mission of its founding: "I have the honor to co-found CARIAD within the Volkswagen Group with a group of thoughtful and good colleagues. By using software to define and drive cars, we want to reinvent mobile behavior to deliver an easy, safe and sustainable travel experience for consumers. ”

"We are building a full-stack software technology development capability, which is what sets CARIAD apart. It is embodied in the software platform that CARIAD is developing. We believe that the new and unified software platform for the Group's brand will bring industry disruption to mobility, as it will provide core and scalable technical support for smart cars. Evergreen said.

According to Changqing, THE MAIN TASK OF CARIAD IS TO DEVELOP THREE SOFTWARE PLATFORMS: Mass Production, High-end and Unified Scalability. The development goal of the three platforms is that by 2025, 60% of the full-stack technology can be developed independently, and by 2030, more than 40 million group cars worldwide use CARIAD products.

It is worth mentioning that as cariad's first subsidiary outside Europe, CARIAD's Chinese subsidiary will also participate in the development of the above software platform.

The reporter learned from Changqing: "CARIAD's first mass-produced software platform is suitable for MEB platform models, and software will be updated remotely online on specific models, that is, OTA." The China team will lead the implementation of the ID. family series of products OTA in China, and the first update is expected to be achieved in the second half of 2022. ”

Following the mass-produced software platform, CARIAD plans to provide a high-end software platform in the next two years, mainly serving Audi and Porsche electric models based on the PPE platform, which will support advanced infotainment systems based on Android open source systems and advanced driver assistance systems. It is reported that the Chinese team is leading the development of China-specific applications of these two systems.

For the scalable platform, THE NEWS GIVEN BY CARIAD is that it will be applicable to all brands under the future group, support volkswagen's self-developed operating system VW.OS, and connect to Volkswagen's cloud VW.AC. This technology stack will be launched around 2025 and will be pre-equipped with L4 level autonomous driving technology.

"The Chinese team will lead and participate in 70% of the R&D work involving the new software platform technology stack and product line, including local R&D and adaptation. At the same time, the Chinese team will also develop a data backend that meets the data compliance requirements, that is, the Volkswagen Cloud VW.AC, and implement a series of intelligent interconnection services. Evergreen said.

Establish a Chinese team to respond quickly to demand

As the team leader of CARIAD, the global software center of the Volkswagen Group, in China, Evergreen has been entrusted with an important mission.

"I am delighted to be able to return to my hometown after nearly 30 years at the Group's headquarters to fulfill the important mission that CARIAD has entrusted me with: to form a subsidiary in China and to help and promote the digital transformation of the Group and its brands in China." Evergreen indicated.

The reporter learned that It is no accident that Evergreen returned to the Chinese market to take up this position, benefiting from his cross-cultural communication experience in the past, as well as the experience accumulated in research and development and management positions; another important reason is the Volkswagen Group's emphasis on its world's largest single market and the broad development prospects of China's mobile travel market.

On the one hand, China is leading the digital transformation of the mobility industry and has become one of the most dynamic and promising mobility markets in the world. The outstanding feature of China's automobile consumer market is that consumer demand is increasingly updated, and the acceptance of new technologies is also increasing. According to McKinsey, more than 80 percent of Chinese consumers believe that autonomous driving and smart connectivity are very important to them.

On the other hand, China is the largest single market for the Volkswagen Group, which has been working in the Chinese market for nearly 40 years and has established a relationship of trust with tens of millions of consumers. Under the wave of electrification and intelligence, if the Volkswagen Group wants to further hold and expand the "cake", it must "do something".

"The time to build a Chinese team is not waiting. As a result, China became the first market for CARIAD to establish a subsidiary outside of its European headquarters. Changqing told reporters, "Our China team can have a more direct and in-depth understanding of the Chinese market, based on the local market demand and customer experience, develop, iterate and continuously improve their products at Chinese speed, and ultimately promote the group's digital transformation in China." ”

The reporter learned that CARIAD currently has more than 600 employees in China, and it is planned to double the number by the end of 2023, of which more than 90% will be local software talents. Meanwhile, CARIAD's China subsidiary is building R&D capabilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hefei with a view to building a nationwide distributed R&D network.

"The first task of our R&D team is to 'upgrade' our R&D speed, thinking concept and technical system. Accelerate the speed of R&D iteration, create innovative thinking concepts, introduce new technical systems, so as to more efficiently meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers, continue to provide them with intelligent, fresh, interesting and safe travel experiences, and ultimately achieve the goal of 'R&D in China, innovation for China'. Sun Wei, chief technology officer of CARIAD's China subsidiary, said.

(Editor: Zhang Shuo Proofreader: Yan Jingning)