Volkswagen will introduce a new software operating system this year that it hopes will put an end to the involved of its cars in accident by 2050, the company stated on Thursday.
Next generation cars will be geared up with software, sensors and processors that allow vehicles to anticipate and prevent accidents, and to keep learning new reflexes, the German automobile brand’s strategy chief Michael Jost stated in Berlin.
“We want to have no more accidents by 2050,” Jost said.
The latest software-based vehicle operating system, which is being introduced with Volkswagen’s new ID:3 electric car, will be continually updated as software algorithms enhance, Jost stated.
“How quickly can data and algorithms improve? Our customers should take advantage from deep learning every week, and every day. We are moving from being a device company to being a software company,” he stated.
First generation cars, which are yet to go on sale in Europe, are still being modified, said Thomas Ulbrich, the Volkswagen brand’s board member responsible for electronic mobility.
“We are not yet at 100%,” Ulbrich said regarding the status of the ID:3’s software development. “It is normal that there are still technical works to be done shortly before market launch.”
The pricing of ID:3 will start from 24,000 euros ($27,000), once green car tax breaks and incentives are added, once it goes on sale in Germany this summer.
That will put it on a par with automaker’s combustion-engined vehicles, and forms part of a big advancement by the company in electric cars.
The VW brand expects to construct 1.5 million electric cars by 2025. Volkswagen Group, whose brands also consists of Porsche, Audi, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti, will release 75 electric cars by 2029 and become capable of constructing 26 million vehicles.
