Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Volkswagen Doesn’t Have a Software Partner Problem

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Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Volkswagen Doesn’t Have a Software Partner Problem. It Has a System Problem.

Volkswagen’s $5.8B Rivian deal is already in trouble. Audi and Porsche models are delayed again. This isn’t new. It’s CARIAD all over again.

CARIAD didn’t fail because the vision was wrong. It failed because Volkswagen’s system is wrong.

After speaking with Robert Fey, a 13-year Volkswagen veteran who worked at CARMEQ and CARIAD from day one, the conclusion is clear: Volkswagen is organized to build hardware, not software. That system rewards silos, cost minimization, and committee control. Software needs speed, trust, and product ownership. Volkswagen offers none of that.

CARIAD was forced into project thinking—build software for one car, ship it, move on. Real software companies build platforms that evolve across models and years. The mismatch was fatal.


Decision-making is the real killer. Employees are told to act like entrepreneurs, but every decision requires approvals from procurement, finance, and IT. Teams own the outcomes but control nothing. The cheapest vendor wins. The loudest voice gets priority. Progress stalls.

Rivian understands what software needs: tight scope, clear ownership, and the discipline to say no. But Volkswagen can’t help itself. Midway through the plan, it adds new requirements like combustion engine support after the roadmap is set.


CARIAD would have said yes. Rivian says no. And that’s the problem.

Volkswagen keeps changing partners, but the results stay the same because the system never changes. Until it does, every software transformation will fail no matter who builds the code.


That’s the uncomfortable truth: Volkswagen doesn’t need better software partners. It needs a new operating system.


source : Philipp Raasch

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