A few days ago, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess told the media that Volkswagen has always maintained an open attitude towards cooperation with third-party companies to develop software. He said, “Opening up Volkswagen’s technology platform to other competitors and jointly building software systems is an important part of Volkswagen’s scale economy strategy.”

　　Not only Volkswagen, BMW Group Chairman Ziptzer also pointed out before, “Automakers should share the research and development and expenses of automotive software architecture, because there is not much difference in software infrastructure between different brands.”

　　But it is worth noting that, judging from past cases, automakers need to resolve the competition between companies and coordinate the development cycle, so the road to external cooperation can be described as tortuous.

　　For example, Daimler and BMW once established a cooperative relationship in autonomous driving research and development, but after only a few months, they parted ways because they could not find a satisfactory cooperation path. Cariad CEO Dirk Hilgenberg pointed out in a report this month that the three major German automakers had previously tried to jointly build a car operating system, but it eventually broke down.

　　The anti-audience technology company has already taken a considerable advantage in the development of automotive software. For example, Google has emerged in the automotive field with its Android operating system; Intel’s MobileEye announced the robotaxi service plan last month and is expected to start pilot operations next year. There is also news that in addition to the widely accepted CarPlay, Apple is also developing a software that can access speedometer, seat, car air, audio and other systems.

　　Although there is no successful precedent for reference, Volkswagen is ready to cooperate with other companies to improve the efficiency of software development and reduce costs. Through this move, Volkswagen hopes to catch up with companies such as Tesla and Intel in software development, because their strength has left traditional car companies far behind. Diss also emphasized that "The automotive software field is the last opportunity for Europe to establish a competitive position with China and the United States."

　　Volkswagen expects to transform itself from a manufacturing enterprise into a software-driven mobile travel service provider's determination is obvious to all. Last year, its spending on digital research and development reached 31 billion U.S. dollars, doubling the previously planned figure. In 2020, Volkswagen also brought together the power of the group to establish an independent software company Cariad. Since then, in order to build a more flexible and independent R&D system, Volkswagen changed its strategy and let the Audi brand dominate the group's R&D work.