Volkswagen centralizes group software development at Audi

Volkswagen on Wednesday stated it was replacing software chief Christian Senger and moving the center of its group-wide software development from its Wolfsburg headquarters to Ingolstadt, where the automaker’s premium brand Audi is based.

Senger, the present chief executive of Volkswagen Group’s Car.Software unit will be replaced by Dirk Hilgenberg, former senior vice president manufacturing engineering at BMW, VW stated.

Markus Duesmann, Volkswagen’s head of development and also Audi’s chief executive, stated a new software operating system would be developed at the unit and the system would be trialed at the company’s “Artemis” agile development unit headed by former Apple and Porsche executive Alexander Hitzinger.

By the end of 2020, the Car.Software organization will have approximately 5,000 specialists tasked with developing common software for all of the brands at Volkswagen Group, which consists of Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini.

Ingolstadt will also be accountable for finding out solutions for data-driven business models and innovations at the Group, Volkswagen stated, adding that over 7 billion euros ($7.99 billion) will be invested for these tasks by 2025.