Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group’s troubled software division Cariad is getting new leadership again. According to Reuters, later today, VW Group is expected to announce that it’s replacing Cariad’s current boss with Bentley’s Peter Bosch. The division was created in 2019 to consolidate software development for VW’s 10 different brands under one roof. But it’s been anything but smooth sailing ever since, resulting in delays to new models and even the firing of former VW CEO Herbert Diess in 2022.
Cariad was originally charged with developing three different automotive software platforms concurrently. One platform, called E3 1.1, is for VW Group’s mass-market electric vehicles like the VW ID.4.
E3 1.2 will debut in the more upmarket EVs currently under development by Audi and Porsche and should appear first in the electric Porsche Macan and Audi’s A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron. But those models have been delayed due to development difficulties and now won’t appear until 2024.
E3 2.0 is the most ambitious, and most troubled, of the three platforms. Destined for use in a new EV platform called SSP, E3 2.0 was meant to arrive in 2026 and would include the necessary software for autonomous driving. But SSP has been pushed back to 2028 or 2029, after VW leadership realized that the code simply wouldn’t be ready for the original deadline.
As a result, Dirk Hilgenberg is out and will be replaced by Peter Bosch, who has served as Bentley’s board member for production since 2017. Reuters says that VW will let almost the entire current Cariad leadership team go, except for the head of human resources.
