Gossip with Huawei again? Volkswagen's failure in software lies in its emphasis on martial arts

On May 17th, a week after the senior management of Volkswagen's software company CARIAD underwent a facelift, it was reported that Volkswagen and Huawei had held talks on using Huawei software in their Chinese cars. On the 18th, Volkswagen China responded that there were no discussions with other companies regarding operating system authorization

On May 17th, a week after the senior management of Volkswagen's software company CARIAD underwent a facelift, it was reported that Volkswagen and Huawei had held talks on using Huawei software in their Chinese cars. On the 18th, Volkswagen China responded that there were no discussions with other companies regarding operating system authorization.

Among the core businesses of Volkswagen's intelligent transformation, CARIAD is the most highly anticipated but also the most controversial. Three CEOs, two CTOs, and even former Volkswagen CEO Herbert Dis have fallen here. They arrived with passion and eventually left lonely.

The determination of the public to build software capabilities is not strong, and no one would doubt it. In 2021 and 2022 alone, CARIAD suffered a total operating loss of nearly 25.8 billion yuan - a scale of funds that Li Bin claimed could "burn out" a new force in car manufacturing.

This article attempts to break away from the perspective of "power struggle" and gain a specific understanding of the problems faced by the public. This is a typical big company challenge, as well as a process and cultural challenge that OEMs encounter when adapting to agile development.

Wen|Cao Lin

Edit|Mao Shiyang

Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix)original

one

OEM mentality that cannot be put down

After more than a year of employment, Zhuang Jing gradually became accustomed to the atmosphere of CARIAD China. The office is clean and tidy, with each person having a large desk

Volkswagen China has an independent office building in Beijing, and CARIAD China shares the third floor of this building.

The colleagues here dress calmly and the collar is standard. Most people arrive at work about ten minutes before the designated time every morning. The proper etiquette among colleagues is usually like this. When encountering unfamiliar people who have had a meeting together in the hallway or elevator, Zhuang Jing will smile and nod at a suitable distance. When she arrives at the desk, she will say good morning to the person sitting next to her. These courtesies usually do not require deliberate learning, and upon joining the workforce, they can quickly be infected by the surrounding atmosphere.

This atmosphere is completely different from the internet company she worked for. In that company, Zhuang Jing's colleagues arrived one after another every day, and many people only came around noon. "Because it was possible to work late the day before," it was difficult for colleagues to work the same hours for different projects and functions. At that time, many of Zhuang Jing's colleagues would prepare some commonly used cosmetics in the office and only supplement them when they needed to meet outsiders.

Volkswagen China and CARIAD China Building located in Beijing

The greater difference comes from the process. Zhuang Jing told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that in former internet companies, the process was usually lagging, and the management "often emphasized the need to follow the process because everyone is not used to it". In CARIAD, without completing complex processes, many tasks not only cannot be started, but also cannot be established.

For CARIAD China, under a modular model designed for traditional OEMs, software development is more like following the ancient "waterfall development" process, unable to complete software that requires an "agile development" process.

Li Zhuo's position in CARIAD China is as a FunctionOwner (FO), who needs to manage the implementation process of a certain requirement and be responsible for the final result.

In his previous job, Li Zhuo described himself as "writing code", but in CARIAD China, Li Zhuo hardly needed to actually participate in software code writing, reducing work pressure. However, Li Zhuo took a long time to adapt.

Li Zhuo told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that when developing in the past, he would first write a part of the core code, which is like building a simple framework, with the purpose of testing functions and conducting preliminary design of implementation methods. After verifying feasibility, the internal team would then develop the entire system.

But as the FO of CARIAD China, the coding is entirely done by the supplier, which is the outsourcing company. It is difficult for Li Zhuo to participate in the implementation process, and communication becomes a problem, let alone adjust at any time.

On the one hand, it is difficult to manage the implementation process based on past experience, and on the other hand, it is also difficult for Li Zhuo to provide optimization suggestions for the functions and requirements of the developed software. Unlike the Project Manager (PM) position responsibilities in traditional internet companies, FO cannot participate in requirement development like PM.

In technology companies, to adapt to a rapidly iterative software environment, an agile development process is usually established, with the core being the close collaboration between the Product Owner (PO) and the PM. The PO is responsible for defining the product as a whole and is the overall project leader, while the PM is responsible for implementing the product, clarifying users and requirements. Both parties need high-density communication, constantly adjusting and making decisions, so much so that in many cases, the PO and PM are held by the same person.

But within the CARIAD system, 'requirements' are the ultimate result of a complex process that is communicated and proposed by many department personnel.

Under this framework, it is difficult for even a PO to fully determine the software project they are responsible for.

PO needs to go to various business departments to collect requirements and ultimately classify and summarize them, "Zhuang Jing told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that managing product development tasks and establishing standardization processes is the core work of PO under the CARIAD system, but he does not have the power to modify requirements. If it is necessary to modify the requirements, the PO also needs to find the corresponding business department and complete the communication process.

two

Dimensionality reduction strike

In her recollection, Zhuang Jing described herself as the person who was able to lead a team for the company, which made her a bit uncomfortable at the beginning of joining CARIAD. Under the strict process, it seemed that there was no need for a surge of momentum here.

Internet companies often start by doing it first, and then communicate and report on it. What can be achieved, how to achieve it, and the plan can be improved at any time are all directly communicated with the person in charge. However, in CARIAD China, Zhuang Jing told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix), "The discussion of a solution may last for several months, or even more than six months

At first, it made her feel very uncomfortable, thinking it was a problem with the efficiency of the receiver, but now she can understand the reason for it.

After the business department from Volkswagen requests CARIAD China, a person in charge of specific work will be left behind. However, this person may not have a high level in the business department and "does not have the authority to make decisions". Therefore, if the software team needs to adjust the requirements or propose improvement plans, "the other party also needs to go through a lot of processes to confirm and come back", and often needs to communicate with the person in charge in Germany.

Chang Qing, CEO of CARIAD China

Zhuang Jing misunderstood her colleagues, and now she has come to the opposite conclusion, 'Everyone's cooperation is very high, and their professionalism is also very high.'. After learning about this organization, Zhuang Jing found that the public has given CARIAD as much freedom as possible.

However, the conflict between the popular modular development system and the agile development system required for software is not only reflected in the process, but also in the dilemma of talent knowledge structure.

It can be said that the knowledge structure of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) talents is completely different from that of traditional OEMs. "Li Zhuo explained to Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that the software, hardware, and network knowledge mastered by the two types of talents are almost different.

Among them, traditional mainframe manufacturers are familiar with the CAN bus protocol and LIN bus protocol, but they are rarely familiar with the Ethernet protocols that ICT relies on. At the software level, traditional mainframe developers are familiar with C code, AutoSAR, and others, but they are rarely able to use common languages such as C++and Java. The opposite is also true. Talents in the software industry who enter the automotive industry also need to relearn CAN and LIN bus protocols.

In Li Zhuo's view, if the mastery of CAN and LIN bus protocols is taken as the foundation, then the developers recruited by CARIAD and its Chinese team can almost only come from mechanical or automotive professional backgrounds, or have worked in automotive engine factories.

This is the current talent situation in CARIAD China. Li Zhuo told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that most of his colleagues come from car manufacturers, with most of them having work experience from various brands under Volkswagen. "Many have backgrounds in internet companies, and may have also gone from traditional car factories to the internet before returning now

This CAN bus protocol, which is regarded as the standard in traditional automotive development, is a communication protocol between different components of the traditional architecture vehicle. It was first developed and released by Bosch in 1991 and has been in use for more than 30 years.

Car pixels(ID:autopix)Dimensionality reduction strike

From the recruitment of CARIAD China, it can be seen that "understanding the bus protocol" is still a key aspect when recruiting PO and FO positions. But adjustments are also happening, for example, under the recruitment requirements of a PO position in CARIAD's Shanghai office in China, it is specifically mentioned that "those with experience in non automotive software development are preferred".

three

Standing at the forefront of the tide

For a while, Zhuang Jing was very anxious, afraid that if she worked at CARIAD for a long time, she would be "neglected and unable to return". The workflow and classic car theory learned here will one day be useless if you return to a technology company.

But after interacting closely with people in the automotive industry, she found that the changes in the industry were faster than expected, and the Volkswagen ID. series car engine system had been upgraded from the early 1516 version to the 2914 version. Compared to Volkswagen, many peers in the industry have gone further, and Zhuang Jing has clearly found that in the past year, the pace of automotive intelligence has begun to accelerate.

Upcoming ID.7

The tide is coming, and Zhuang Jing finds herself standing closest to the tide, which is different from the situation of internet companies. "Internet recruitment is gradually freezing." She may not need to consider "returning" to internet companies anymore. "Many domestic brand car companies have great (software) research and development teams." Other car companies are also one of the options.

The automotive technology, which has not undergone revolutionary changes for decades, is suddenly changing everywhere. There are too many things to do, and relying solely on OEM to drive is clearly not enough.

A person in charge of intelligence at an independent brand car company once told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that without the cooperation of a supplier, the cost of developing supporting software for the main engine factory alone is extremely high, and the development of each function may require a very large team. "In Internet companies, there is such a large team behind one WeChat and one Tiktok." The software functions needed for the car machine "can be understood as many WeChat and Tiktok."

The difference between the iteration of many products and the first version is significant, and if someone takes over midway, it is difficult to catch up. "Zhuang Jing told Automotive Pixel (ID: autopix) that fully self-developed automotive enterprise software not only has high labor costs, but also high organizational and management costs.

Looking back from today's perspective, the software system of Volkswagen may have had problems from the beginning of its design. The Volkswagen of the Dis era hoped that "the software code of Volkswagen must be written by ourselves", which clearly underestimated the complexity of the intelligent transformation of automobiles.

To accomplish this impossible task, Christian Senger, who once led the Volkswagen software team, attempted to follow the familiar supply chain system of OEM manufacturers, establish a waterfall development model of "focusing on the big and letting the small", firmly grasp the right to define software requirements, and at the same time package the "code" to the supplier, which is the beginning of many process challenges faced by CARIAD today.

Nowadays, in the field of automotive software that has entered a rapid iteration cycle, this approach is very inefficient. Unfortunately, from Christian Senger to the third CEO of CARIAD, Dirk Hilgenberg, who just visited China in May, has not truly changed this approach. However, corresponding to this system, important positions such as CEO and CTO of CARIAD are all from traditional automotive enterprise backgrounds.

Before and after May 8th this year, Volkswagen began a round of "major changes" in the senior management of CARIAD, with the CEO, CTO, and CFO all eliminated. The successor CEO position still comes from the OEM system and is Peter Bosch, the former head of Bentley brand manufacturing. According to Volkswagen Group's announcement, this new CEO will officially take office on June 1st, responsible for finance, procurement, and IT business. In the eyes of the outside world, Peter Bosch's biggest mission is to cut expenses for CARIAD.

Under the system engineering of automotive intelligence, each link needs to undertake a mission, which is clearly not achievable by a single automotive company following a closed automotive supply chain system.

Nowadays, both Tier1 and Tier2 in the automotive supply chain are undergoing difficult transformation explorations, and various achievements are preliminarily emerging. Automobile manufacturers need to abandon their OEM mentality and accept a new collaborative ecosystem in order to make good use of these achievements.

Now, Zhuang Jing consciously has found a balance, with a balance between work and life, not as fast as technology companies, and able to participate in the forefront of automotive intelligence.

Although the entire mechanism of the mass system operates in a way that only allows things to progress slowly, the advantage is that although the giant wheel rotates slowly, once it advances, it will not retreat back.

However, CARIAD may still be able to gradually improve, but Volkswagen can no longer wait.

(Zhuang Jing and Li Zhuo are pseudonyms in the text)

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