Tag Archive for: transformation

The automotive industry is facing a upheaval it has not experienced in the past 100 years. Electromobility is forcing the automotive industry to change, especially with regard to digitalization. Handelsblatt recently conducted an interview with VW CEO Herbert Diess on the topic of digital transformation in the automotive industry as part of Handelsblatt Innovation Week. The transformation to e-mobility, which will become very noticeable in the next 15 years, is for him the less significant issue. This technology is manageable, it can be handled at VW, Diess explained in the interview. The greater challenge for him lies in the associated digitalization.

VW wants to develop 60 percent of the software itself in four years

The topic of data processing and software plays a complex role in their own processes as cars increasingly develop into a “personal device”. Today, car manufacturers obtain the software for their vehicles predominantly from suppliers, explains Diess. Volkswagen, for example, currently has a share of about ten percent in software development. However, he expects that VW will create 60 percent of the software in the car itself in 4 years.

Digital Transformation: With Artificial Intelligence to Autonomous Driving

A very central role, the CEO predicts, will be taken by autonomous driving in the future. This will prevail and from the 2030s it will be an “new comfort element” that will be indispensable in any car. The advances in artificial intelligence will improve computing capacities so much that the large amounts of data required from image recognition and processing can be used, says Diess. Image recognition, which replaces the human eye, makes autonomous driving possible. VW will therefore also face the task of developing its own computer chips. An interesting insight into the topic of digital transformation with a focus on the connectivity of vehicles driven by car manufacturers is provided by the Connected Car Services study, which Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Marc Scholz conducted for the Private University of Göttingen PFH in spring 2020. Read the study “Customer Insights: Connected Car Services in Germany” (pdf): https://www.unicconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PFH-Studie-Connected-Car-Services-Riekhof-Scholz-2020.pdf The photo shows the VW concept study SEDRIC – short for “Self Driving Car”. Photo: Volkswagen AG