Manufacturers of VW cars, Volkswagen says it will launch a new software operating system this year that it hopes will make accidents involving its cars a thing of the past by 2050.
Next-generation cars will be equipped with software, sensors and processors that enable vehicles to anticipate and avoid accidents, and to keep learning new reflexes, the German car brand’s strategy chief Michael Jost said in Berlin on Thursday.
“We want to have no more accidents by 2050,” he said.
The new software-based vehicle operating system, which is being launched with Volkswagen’s new ID:3 electric car, will be continually updated as software algorithms improve, Jost said.
“How quickly can data and algorithms improve? Our customers should benefit from deep learning every week, and every day. We are moving from being a device company to being a software company,” he said.
First-generation cars, which are due to go on sale in Europe in the summer, are still being tweaked, said Thomas Ulbrich, the VW brand’s board member responsible for electromobility.
“We are not yet at 100 percent.
“It is normal that there are still technical tasks to be done shortly before market launch,” Ulbrich said about the status of the ID:3’s software development.
The ID:3 will cost from 24,000 euros (27,000 dollars), once green car tax breaks and incentives are included when it goes on sale in Germany this summer.
