Volkswagen is ready to throw no fewer than 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) at developing their digital businesses by 2025, with products such as a cloud computing-based platform for connected vehicles, and services such as car sharing in sight.
The German automaker said that it’s working on a new software operating system, known as ‘vw.OS’, which will be rolled out on new VW electric cars come 2020. These vehicles will also feature a brand new electronic architecture, designed specifically for autonomous driving.
“We have a clear vision: we will continue to build vastly superior vehicles. But going forward, our Volkswagens will increasingly become digital devices on wheels,” said VW brand board member for sales, Jürgen Stackmann. “Our customers will become part of an ecosystem that we have named ‘We’. This system complements the Volkswagen experience on wheels and enables customer to take their world into their vehicle.”
As opposed to having roughly 70 different sensors and controllers working independently within each vehicle, these new VW models will function by connecting the various sensors using this new proprietary software.
Thus, information gathered by a parking sensor could in turn travel to the steering, brakes and high-definition maps in order to allow a car to park itself.
VW also said that over-the-air software updates are much easier to do if the operating system is designed in-house, rather than developed by a third-party.
Get ready to share
The automaker is planning on launching a car-sharing business dubbed ‘We Share” in Berlin, using a fleet of 2,000 electric cars, reports Automotive News. This is said to happen in the second quarter of 2019, from which point the service will be expanded to core European markets as well as certain cities within the United States and Canada.
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