After some embarrassing failures in the past to do it alone, such as Volkswagen’s, eleven giants from the German automotive industry have realized they need to join forces in developing the software that will increasingly define the car of the future.
Under the impetus of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 29th International Automotive Electronics Congress (AEK) to establish an open-source software alliance that functions as a secure ‘middleware’ between the operating system and application layers.
Autonomous driving?
This allows manufacturers and suppliers to focus on differentiating features while maintaining core components together, the participant parties state. One of the things to expect soon is a software scope for the series development of a platform for autonomous driving, which is expected to be available in 2026.
The eleven companies that signed the MoU are the BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz Group, Volkswagen Group, and Tier 1 suppliers such as Bosch, Continental, Forvia (formerly Hella), ZF Group, Valeo BRAIN Division, and software experts like Qorix, Etas GmbH (a subsidiary of Bosch), and Vector Informatik GmbH.
“With the increasing importance and complexity of vehicle software, it is becoming crucial for the automotive industry to enhance speed and efficiency in development while maintaining high quality and safety,” VDA says in a press release.
Boring uniformity?
Will it mean all German cars will run the same software in the future? No. “A significant portion of the vehicle software is not directly accessible to the user and, therefore, not differentiable. Such as middleware that handles communication, authentication, and interfaces between the vehicle’s operating system and the applications that run on it. This fact allows the corresponding software modules to be developed jointly in an open and collaborative ecosystem.”
In other words, the user will still receive the software flavor of their favorite brand, along with specific applications to use, which may appear differently. At the same time, the underlying processes are commonly developed to expedite the rollout of new technology.
Cariad failure
Volkswagen attempted to do it on its own before, aiming to develop a unified software architecture (called VW.OS) across all its brands, but this effort ultimately failed. Volkswagen has faced major software development issues over the past few years, primarily through its Cariad software division. These problems caused significant delays to key vehicle launches from Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen itself.
The vision included autonomous driving capabilities (up to Level 4), centralized vehicle control, and OTA updates—all developed in-house and fast. Experts regarded this as highly ambitious for a company that lacked the experience of large-scale software development.
They point out that Cariad hired thousands of engineers rapidly, but management struggled to integrate teams, define priorities, or build agile workflows. This led to constant strategy shifts, unclear product ownership, and poor coordination among brands, particularly Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen. Software for the Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche Macan EV was years behind schedule, for instance, leading to launch delays.
Increasing software complexity
Lessons learned, the German automotive industry is now changing its tack. “The automotive industry is currently facing significant common challenges. One of the challenges is the increase in software complexity within vehicles in combination with cloud-based services.”
“At the same time, there is a need to reduce time-to-market and costs while continuously delivering innovation through software. Further, the automotive industry must ensure safe and secure solutions over the entire product lifecycle.”
The proposed timeline involves defining a reference architecture and feature requirements by mid-2025 and implementing the first public version of key software stack modules by the end of 2025. By the end of 2026, a first complete software release should be ready for series projects, such as autonomous driving.
By 2030 at the latest, a first Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is envisioned, incorporating an open-source software stack that will be integrated into the series project.
