Volkswagen Plans On Firing Management Team At Cariad Software Unit

Volkswagen is preparing to dismiss the executive board members of its software division, Cariad, next week, according to a Reuters report. The software unit, which was created by former Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, has been struggling with development issues, exceeding its budget, and missing its targets. These problems contributed to Diess's departure from the company, which was replaced by Oliver Blume, the former head of the Porsche brand.

The only board member who is expected to remain at Cariad is Rainer Zugehor, the head of personnel. A Volkswagen spokesperson also confirmed that Cariad and its projects were under review and that major changes were likely. Developing in-house vehicle software is a key part of Volkswagen's strategy, but management issues are delaying the work on important models such as the Porsche e-Macan and the Audi Q6 e-Tron.

Volkswagen aims to have a group-wide standardized car software and initially planned to achieve level 4 autonomous driving capabilities by 2026. However, this goal has been pushed back by two years.

Volkswagen as a group has invested more than $90 billion towards software-defined and electric powertrains in the last three years.