Another Tesla lead at Software & Assisenzen> teslamag.de

With the VW ID.3, the German Volkswagen Group will soon be launching a real people’s electric car on the market and thus competing with Tesla – the first copies are to be delivered to the customer this summer. The fact that they don’t come earlier, although the ID.3 has been in production since the end of 2019, is reportedly due to the fact that the software is not yet ready. And as CEO Herbert Diess said according to a report in front of high Volkswagen managers, software is still “no other automobile manufacturer” as far as Tesla today.

Inaccurate Tesla representation by VW boss

This statement by Diess comes from a webcast with Volkswagen top management, reported the Automobilwoche on Saturday. On the one hand, it referred to assistance systems such as the Tesla autopilot. This would make him “headache”, the magazine quotes the VW boss. 500,000 Teslas would function as a neural network that continuously collects data, which ensures that customers receive “a new driving experience with improved properties” every 14 days via radio update.

In doing so, the Volkswagen boss reproduced the functionality of the Tesla autopilot system and the frequency of updates for the electric car pioneer as imprecisely as the number of Teslas equipped with the new autopilot hardware from version AP2 (according to the MIT researcher Lex Fridman currently has more than 800,000). But the Tesla principle seems to have largely understood Diess – and is driving Volkswagen with the main brands VW, Audi and Porsche to become so similar.

VW wants to reduce like Tesla

According to Automobilwoche, Diess also spoke of a “catch-up plan” for Tesla, which should be implemented by a newly created organization for auto software. The integration of software is much more difficult for Volkswagen than pure electrification.

In addition to the autopilot system, the Volkswagen boss also emphasized the reduced control design at Tesla, which ultimately also relies on software, according to the report. The bundling of many functions on just one screen is well received, Diess quotes – “customers love it”. VW will definitely follow suit here, reports the Automobilwoche, citing a confidant from Diess. Interesting side aspect: VW recently showed an elaborate head-up display for the ID.3, which has so far been consistently rejected by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“Tesla can greatly increase production”

Again, Diess is also said to have pointed to Tesla’s much higher stock market value than Volkswagen. According to the CEO, Tesla has twice as much capitalization as the large German company, despite the much smaller numbers. And Diess does not seem to have any hopes that Tesla could still stop himself: he believes the electric car pioneer to “increase the volume significantly”.

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