VW to Launch Software Version 2.0 with Level 4 Self-Driving Features

VW cars will have a version 2.0 slept-driving technology (photo: Twitter @VW)

JAKARTA - Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume will outline a new vehicle platform and software strategy to the automaker's supervisory board on December 15. He wanted to try to turn his predecessor's vision into a deliverable target.

Oliver Blume, who headed VW last September, has developed plans with the German group's brands, ranging from mass market VW and Skoda to high-end Audi and Porsche.

His predecessor Herbert Diess was hailed as a visionary for committing Europe's largest automaker, whose image was tarnished by an emissions cheating scandal, to a future of electric vehicles. But he's also been criticized for his sometimes erratic leadership, and in particular for delays and cost overruns at Cariad's software arm.

"First is the software and reality check in that area. Then you have to transfer the software to the product. Both have to be compliant... Things that were not decided a few years before are now being resolved very quickly," said one of the sources close to corporate decision-making told Reuters.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the new software platform, 2.0, which will enable so-called Level 4 autonomous driving and is planned for deployment across the fleet from 2026, will be pushed back to the end of the decade. One of the sources estimates the possibility of early 2028.

This additional time will allow the 2.0 platform to be refined. Platform 1.2 for premium electric models such as the e-Macan and Audi Q6 e-tron will be implemented from next year, with platform 1.1 currently used in their range of vehicles receiving the update in the interim.