Yahoo Autos VW Group's troubled Cariad software division to lay off 2,000 workers
As much as massive software stacks have proved what they can do for the transportation industry, we don't know of a carmaker doing business in the U.S. that has escaped the the pain of public software glitches. Lucid had to issue three good old-fashioned recalls in one day in August, two of which dealt with software problems. GM sent an over-the-air update during the summer to cars on the new Global B electrical architecture, an update that ended up draining the 12-volt batteries in roughly 4,000 vehicles. Tesla had to face a $2-million court case of he-said-she-said when an OTA update reduced driving range in Tesla vehicles by roughly 20%. Even with all that, we don't know any automaker in the world that's had as many problems with software, for as long, as the Volkswagen Group. Via TechCrunch, Germany's Manager Magazin reports the conglomerate's board has just approved laying off 2,000 employees in the Cariad software unit as part of the latest restructuring intended to right the digital ship.
Former group CEO Herbert Diess established Car.Software Organization in 2020, eventually renaming it Cariad and giving the task of creating "a uniform software and technology platform for all Volkswagen Group brands." VW's info page on the division says the unit employs roughly 6,000 people around the world, up from roughly 4,500 at the end of 2021. Despite that same page claiming Cariad is building "the leading tech stack for the automotive industry," the failed stacks brought down the division's first CEO in less than a year, then brought down VW Group CEO Diess two years later as problems continued. It then probably played a role in bringing down Audi brand CEO Markus Duesmann and much, if not all, of Audi's Project Trinity when Oliver Blume took over as CEO of the VW Group. It finally took out Cariad's second CEO, Dirk Hilgenberg, over the summer. And aside from the career killing, Cariad's woes have proved problematic for every battery-electric car VW Group launch since the ID.3.
