According to foreign media reports, Audi, Porsche and Bentley may be forced to postpone the release of key new electric vehicle models due to the delay in the software development of cariad, a software subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.
According to insiders, Audi's new flagship model is currently being developed under the Artemis Project and will not be launched until 2027, three years later than the original plan. Bentley's plan to sell only pure electric vehicles by 2030 is questionable. The new Porsche electric car Macan and its sister Audi Q6 e-tron, originally planned to be launched next year, are also facing delays.
It is reported that cariad is far behind the plan in developing new software for these models.
The Audi Artemis Project originally planned to launch a vehicle equipped with version 2.0 software as early as 2024, which can realize L4 level automatic driving. Audi insiders revealed that the first Artemis mass production vehicle (internally known as landjet) will be put into production after the Volkswagen Trinity electric flagship sedan. Volkswagen is building a new factory in Wolfsburg, and Trinity will be put into operation in 2026. According to people familiar with the matter, the mass production vehicle of Audi Artemis Project will be launched as early as the end of 2026, but it is more likely to be launched in 2027.
Audi now plans to launch an electric flagship car code named "landyacht" in 2025, which has a higher body but is not equipped with autonomous driving technology. This self driving technology should have helped Audi compete with Tesla, BMW and Mercedes Benz.
Volkswagen plans to further develop version 1.2 software instead of using 2.0 software. People familiar with the matter said that the version of the software was originally scheduled to be completed in 2021, but it was far behind the plan.
Executives at Porsche and Audi are frustrated by the delay in software development. Audi hopes to start pre production of Q6 e-tron at its Ingolstadt plant in Germany by the end of this year, benchmarking Tesla Model y. However, this model is currently scheduled to start mass production in September 2023. One manager said, "we need software now."
Porsche has begun pre production of the electric Macan at its Leipzig plant in Germany. "The hardware of this car is great, but there is still no software," said a Porsche related person.
At the beginning of this year, Volkswagen announced to cooperate with Bosch, a first-class auto parts supplier, to develop advanced driving assistance functions. In May, it was reported that the board of supervisors of Volkswagen Group requested to reformulate the plan of its software department. Earlier this month, Dirk hilgenberg, the head of cariad, said that his department would be streamlined to speed up the pace of software development.
Post time: Jul-13-2022