Volkswagen Group further strengthens its capabilities in the development of automated driving (AD) solutions. The Group’s software company Car.Software Organisation will collaborate with Microsoft to build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP) on Microsoft Azure and leverage its compute and data capabilities to deliver automated driving experiences even faster at global scale. With ADP running on Azure, Car.Software Organisation will increase the efficiency of the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AD functions for passenger cars across Volkswagen Group brands. Volkswagen and Microsoft have been strategic partners on the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud since 2018, which will span all of Volkswagen's future digital services and mobility offerings.

“As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development. We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft's cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services,” said Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of the Car.Software Organisation.

"This is the next evolution of our foundational work with the Volkswagen Group to enhance their transformation as a software-driven mobility provider,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI at Microsoft. “The power of Microsoft Azure and its compute, data and AI capabilities will enable Volkswagen to deliver secure and reliable automated driving solutions to their customers faster.”

Build AD and ADAS solutions faster with one development platform

ADAS and automated driving vehicles can help improve passenger safety while reducing congestion and making mobility even more comfortable. Building these solutions requires large-scale computational capabilities. Petabytes of data from road and weather conditions to obstacle detection and driver behavior need to be managed every day for the training, simulation and validation of AD functions. Machine learning algorithms that learn from billions of real and simulated miles driven are key to connected driving experiences.

Car.Software Organisation will address these challenges together with Microsoft by simplifying the developer experience and leveraging the "learnings from miles driven" through one database comprising real traffic data from the Group’s vehicles as well as simulation data. Microsoft Azure compute, data and machine learning services as well as Microsoft's know-how in agile software development will enable one development environment for Car.Software Organisation’s developers globally. ADP will help reduce the development cycles from months to weeks and efficiently manage the huge amount of data. The companies will start working on ADP immediately and are looking to continuously expand the functional scope of the development platform.

Both companies intend to enable technology partners to build tools and services that integrate with the platform to enhance the creation of AD and ADAS solutions.

Volkswagen Group increases in-house development of software in the car

The Volkswagen Group is driving forward the digitalization of the car rapidly. By 2025, the Group will invest around EUR 27 billion in digitalization and increase the proportion of in-house development of software in the car to 60 percent from 10 percent today. Founded last year, the Car.Software Organisation plays a key role in the transformation of the Volkswagen Group towards a software-driven mobility provider. It bundles and continuously expands the Group's software competencies, including the development of high-performance driving functions for passenger cars that will be integrated into future models of Volkswagen Group’s brands.

Deploy and operate ADAS and AD solutions with Volkswagen Automotive Cloud

Since 2018, Volkswagen and Microsoft have been collaborating on the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud (VW.AC), which is focused on integrating all the digital services and mobility offerings across the Group brands and models in the future. VW.AC’s engineering team, based in Seattle, has enabled data to be exchanged between the vehicles and the cloud through Azure edge services. The cloud connectivity is also enabling Volkswagen to deliver vehicle updates and new features independently of the vehicle hardware to continuously improve the customer experience.

The first VW.AC connected test fleets are expected to hit the road in 2021. Production rollout is planned for 2022. Car.Software Organisation will integrate ADP and VW.AC as the company moves toward further integrating their software solutions, tools and methods to empower its engineering teams, customers, and partners globally. With VW.AC, the AD and ADAS functions developed on top of ADP can be tested, deployed and operated across the Group’s vehicle fleet.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

See the unseable
Driving in fog, snow, sleet or rain with limited visibility is one of the most trying challenges you can face on the road. Our innovative night vision system scans up to 130 metres ahead and gives youwarning if it detects any pedestrians, animals or cyclists.

How does night vision work?
Infrared beams are projected up to 130 metres ahead which pick up on any thermal radiation emitted by objects. The detector then uses the temperature patterns to create a thermogram, giving you a detailed image of what lies ahead on the instrument cluster display.

Helping to keep you safe
Night vision works together with other driver assist systems. Anything the night vision system picks up, like animals and pedestrians, will be shown immediately on the digital cockpit or optional head-up display. In hazardous situations the night vision system will also ready brake assistance in case you need to come to a stop quickly

Please note: Night vision is currently available on the Touareg only.

Article source: www.volkswagen.co.uk

Volkswagen’s electric offensive continues to gain momentum: Following the presales of the special edition ID.4 1ST that have already taken place, presales of additional ID.4 models will now also start by mid-February in around 30 European countries including Germany, as well as in the USA. Deliveries to customers are to begin as soon as March in in the European, Chinese and US markets.

With the global rollout of the ID.4, Volkswagen is underscoring its ambition to become a global market leader in electric mobility. The company is to invest more than €11 billion by 2023. Volkswagen expects to produce 1.5 million electric cars a year by 2025.

“The ID.4 plays an important role. With this model, Volkswagen is expanding its range to include an electric vehicle in the world’s largest growth segment, the compact SUV class. The market launch of our world car is therefore an important strategic milestone for the brand,” says Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO, Ralf Brandstätter. In 2020 the company had tripled its deliveries of fully-electric vehicles and, thanks to its ID. family, is now already a market leader in a number of countries.

“With the global launch of the ID.4, we will get even more people excited for electric mobility, giving our electric offensive an additional boost. We hope to deliver well over 100,000 ID.4s to customers this year alone,” says Board Member for Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Klaus Zellmer. “We have already received 17,000 incoming orders for the vehicle,” he continues.

Of the deliveries planned for 2021, around two thirds will go to Europe, the other third to China and the USA. In China, the ID.4 will come to customers in two variants, the ID.4 CROZZ and ID.4 X.

Following the ID.3, the ID.4 is the second model from Volkswagen to be based on the new Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB). The platform is specially tailored to the requirements of electric vehicles. The ID.4 marks the beginning of the global rollout of the MEB platform. “The car will be made and sold in Europe and China in future, and will be produced later in the USA. In doing so, we are scaling the MEB platform around the world and creating the economic basis for the success of our ID. family,” says Brandstätter.

In Zwickau (Germany), Anting and Foshan (both in China), series production has already begun, while Chattanooga (USA) and Emden (Germany) is expected to start in 2022.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Today, Volkswagen Group Components opened the Group’s first plant for recycling electric car batteries in Salzgitter. As pilot operation commences, the Volkswagen Group takes another committed step towards sustainable end-to-end responsibility for the entire value chain of the electric vehicle battery. The aim is the industrialised recovery of valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt in a closed loop together with aluminium, copper and plastics, achieving a recycling rate of more than 90% over the long term.

The unique feature of the Salzgitter plant is that it only recycles batteries that can no longer be used for other purposes. Before the battery is recycled, an analysis determines whether the battery is still powerful enough to be given a second life in mobile energy storage systems such as the flexible rapid charging station or the mobile charging robot, for example. Larger volumes of battery returns are not expected until the late 2020s at the earliest. Therefore, the plant has been designed to initially recycle up to 3,600 battery systems per year during the pilot phase – this is the equivalent to approximately 1,500 tonnes. In future, the system can be scaled up to handle larger quantities as the process is consistently optimised.

“Volkswagen Group Components has achieved a further step in its sustainable end-to-end responsibility for the battery as a key component of electric mobility,” asserted Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Technical Division, and Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components, and added: “We are implementing the sustainable recyclable materials cycle – and play a pioneering role in the industry for a future-oriented issue with great potential for climate protection and raw material supply.”

The innovative and CO2-saving recycling process does not require energy-intensive melting in a blast furnace. The used battery systems are delivered, deep discharged, and dismantled. The individual parts are ground into granules in the shredder and then dried. In addition to aluminium, copper and plastics, the process also yields valuable “black powder”, which contains the important raw materials for batteries such as lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, as well as graphite. The separation and processing of the individual substances by hydrometallurgical processes ‒ using water and chemical agents ‒ is subsequently carried out by specialised partners.

“As a consequence, essential components of old battery cells can be used to produce new cathode material,” explains Mark Möller, Head of the Business Unit Technical Development & E-Mobility: “From research, we know that recycled battery raw materials are just as efficient as new ones. In future, we intend to support our battery cell production with the material we recover. Given that the demand for batteries and the corresponding raw materials will increase drastically, we can put every gram of recycled material to good use.”

The CO2 savings are calculated at approximately 1.3 tonnes per 62 kWh battery manufactured using cathodes made from recycled material and using green electricity.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com