VW centralises group software development at Audi

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen on Wednesday said it was replacing software chief Christian Senger and moving the centre of its group-wide software development from its Wolfsburg headquarters to Ingolstadt, where premium brand Audi is based.

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

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

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

Ingolstadt will also be responsible for exploring solutions for data-driven business models and innovations at the Group, Volkswagen said, adding that more than 7 billion euros will be invested for these tasks by 2025.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Alison Williams)