VW group and SW problems

Scandinavian

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In connection with @louv’s nice summary of software issues, bugs and feature requests, I just read an article in a Swedish paper about the challenges that VW group have with SW programs. Their launch of the new ID3 has been delayed a bit, but the mechanical cars are produced and now stored at old airports etc. I have below provided the link for anyone wanting to practice their swedish reading. But I have also below translated the summary with the help of Google Translate.

https://www.svd.se/bakslaget-for-nya-elbilen--mjukvaran-inte-klar

“”This means that the customers who receive the first ID3 in September later have to take the car to the workshop to get the software upgraded. It is only then that they get access to all new features.

We can and we want to develop our own software platform.
From sometime next year, it will be possible to get the cars upgraded wirelessly via the network. It is a technology that Tesla uses extensively to express new features.

To gain better control, Volkswagen now spends just over SEK 70 billion (about 7 billion USD) on building its own software organization, Car software.

- We can and we want to develop our own software platform. And we want Volkswagen to become a software-driven car manufacturer, says Christian Senger, director of Car software in a written comment.

The goal is to internally generate at least 60 percent of the software needed in the cars. Right now, Volkswagen only makes 10 percent of the software and buys the rest from other companies.

According to Christian Senger, it is important for Volkswagen to have control over the IT systems in the cars on their own.

- We cannot give anyone else full access to the data contained in our vehicles, says Christian Senger.

In addition to software, there are considerable economies of scale. Once a computer program is developed, it can be used in any number of cars and Volkswagen sold 11 million cars last year.“”

If they only develop 10% of the software themselves and subcontract the rest, it is no wonder it is a challenge to release new fully tested sw?

And if the group has limited sw resources and need to focus on launching ID3 which is a volume car, I can imagine where all the resources are allocated. And the Taycan has reasonable working sw. Interesting as well is the comment that OTA will only come next year!
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rstr

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Here’s one in German:
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/volkswagen-android-aus-wolfsburg/25933830.html

Shortly:
- VW starts to build its’ own Operating System
- All VW brands (including Porsche) are obliged to implement and base on it after 2022

Hah, this will be a great challenge to keep the software development team in Porsche motivated if they will have a vision of rewriting everything to the new OS soon... I used to lead such a project, no pleasure at all...

On the other hand, looking how Tesla outplays such a giant like VW by using modern, but not any rocket science, software development approach - this sounds like a good, yet very much delayed decision.

For sure Taycan v2 coming in a few years, from software perspective, will be a totally different car. Finally the one - that we all expect and don’t get now (and we won’t get due to platform limitations). With all the OTA updates, function online purchasing, rapid bug fixing etc. Till that time - probably Tesla will be making fun of VW...

Let’s keep fingers crossed for the great project execution there!
 

Gogs

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Here’s one in German:
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/volkswagen-android-aus-wolfsburg/25933830.html

Shortly:
- VW starts to build its’ own Operating System
- All VW brands (including Porsche) are obliged to implement and base on it after 2022

Hah, this will be a great challenge to keep the software development team in Porsche motivated if they will have a vision of rewriting everything to the new OS soon... I used to lead such a project, no pleasure at all...

On the other hand, looking how Tesla outplays such a giant like VW by using modern, but not any rocket science, software development approach - this sounds like a good, yet very much delayed decision.

For sure Taycan v2 coming in a few years, from software perspective, will be a totally different car. Finally the one - that we all expect and don’t get now (and we won’t get due to platform limitations). With all the OTA updates, function online purchasing, rapid bug fixing etc. Till that time - probably Tesla will be making fun of VW...

Let’s keep fingers crossed for the great project execution there!
I wonder if they will leave pcm where it is and invest into the new platform completely. I hope and think that they will probably just release small fixes for the current pcm.
 

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Volvo actually manufacture a lot of the in car equipment for a lot of the manufacturers including safety equipment as they are really the world leader in that field.

Ironically enough When I bought my last Range Rover, after numerous issues with the electronics of the car and numerous visits to LR the infotainment was replaced and for months after it displayed a Volvo logo rather than LR on startup
 

rstr

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I wonder if they will leave pcm where it is and invest into the new platform completely. I hope and think that they will probably just release small fixes for the current pcm.
They have to. I can’t imagine any pausing or stopping the development of the old platform, which would put Porsche even more behind. They must and for sure they will work in parallel.
 


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Volvo actually manufacture a lot of the in car equipment for a lot of the manufacturers including safety equipment as they are really the world leader in that field.

Ironically enough When I bought my last Range Rover, after numerous issues with the electronics of the car and numerous visits to LR the infotainment was replaced and for months after it displayed a Volvo logo rather than LR on startup
At least they fixed all ;)
 

Gogs

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Volvo actually manufacture a lot of the in car equipment for a lot of the manufacturers including safety equipment as they are really the world leader in that field.

Ironically enough When I bought my last Range Rover, after numerous issues with the electronics of the car and numerous visits to LR the infotainment was replaced and for months after it displayed a Volvo logo rather than LR on startup
Wow, bet that annoyed you a little! Bad unit clearly not holding its boot config correctly.
 


kevinod

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Wow, bet that annoyed you a little! Bad unit clearly not holding its boot config correctly.
It had a long list of problems unfortunately. The whole electronics failed with 9 miles on the clock on the drive home unfortunately.
 

Gogs

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It had a long list of problems unfortunately. The whole electronics failed with 9 miles on the clock on the drive home unfortunately.
Wow, did they just replace the electronics or the whole car? I’ve had a good few RR and they have all had problems but there the best 4x4 out there hands down.
 

kevinod

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Wow, did they just replace the electronics or the whole car? I’ve had a good few RR and they have all had problems but there the best 4x4 out there hands down.
I owned the car 12 months and it went to LR 26 times in that period.

It effectively got declared a lemon and despite the finance company wanting to continue trying to fix it, the financial ombudsman told then it wasn’t fit for purpose and I got all my money back on the car.

I think it’s the only car I haven’t lost money on to be fair.

Shame as I did like the car, and the noise from it was amazing but could never go there again unfortunately.
 

PanameraFrank

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I think it’s the only car I haven’t lost money on to be fair.

Shame as I did like the car, and the noise from it was amazing but could never go there again unfortunately.
My iPace was also effectively lemoned and there is quietly a very high lemon rate in iPaces, I'd estimate above 5%. JLR is terrible, I'll never buy one of their cars again.

I'm the worst to talk about infotainment software, though. If Porsche offered "Infotainment delete" replaced by some buttons & still let me plug in my phone, I'd probably do it. Even in the Taycan.
 

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My iPace was also effectively lemoned and there is quietly a very high lemon rate in iPaces, I'd estimate above 5%. JLR is terrible, I'll never buy one of their cars again.

I'm the worst to talk about infotainment software, though. If Porsche offered "Infotainment delete" replaced by some buttons & still let me plug in my phone, I'd probably do it. Even in the Taycan.
Such a shame. Both are great brands.
 

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Turns out, most folks don’t even understand let alone accurately estimate the amount of institutional knowledge and expertise necessary to build professional large scale software products. It takes a lot of long term investment.

it’s like a software company saying they’re going to spank Porsche Motorsport on the track. What ? Lol. Even Tesla has had to invest years into sport performance and they still have nothing absolutely to show for it (prototypes don’t count).

your intramural sport league might play a sport also played professionally, but they Have 0 chance against a pro team and don‘t even play the game the same as pros.

”move fast and break things” -> we have no idea what we’re doing and are going to learn on our customers time.
 

charliemathilde

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Here’s one in German:
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/volkswagen-android-aus-wolfsburg/25933830.html

Shortly:
- VW starts to build its’ own Operating System
- All VW brands (including Porsche) are obliged to implement and base on it after 2022

Hah, this will be a great challenge to keep the software development team in Porsche motivated if they will have a vision of rewriting everything to the new OS soon... I used to lead such a project, no pleasure at all...

On the other hand, looking how Tesla outplays such a giant like VW by using modern, but not any rocket science, software development approach - this sounds like a good, yet very much delayed decision.

For sure Taycan v2 coming in a few years, from software perspective, will be a totally different car. Finally the one - that we all expect and don’t get now (and we won’t get due to platform limitations). With all the OTA updates, function online purchasing, rapid bug fixing etc. Till that time - probably Tesla will be making fun of VW...

Let’s keep fingers crossed for the great project execution there!
i hope this is just lost in translation by the journalist talking to a business guy. Building your own OS is stupid. Even Tesla doesn’t do this. Samsung has tried for years and it’s awful. And they’re a tech company! Build a platform on top of Linux. “It’s fine”
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