Volkswagen wants to surpass Apple Car Play and Android Auto

According to Axel Heinrich, head of innovation and systems architecture at Volkswagen, the German group is behind in terms of multimedia and route planning, and this on vehicles Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or even Cupra. A problem accentuated by the user experience specific to electric vehicles, whose dependence on these systems is greater, particularly when it comes to planning long journeys taking into account the state of the battery.

Volkswagen Group is lagging behind in terms of multimedia systems, and that’s saying something: between bugs that take a long time to be updated, a poorly optimized system, slowness or connection failures, there are things to say again. But the most problematic is the obligation to use third-party applications to compensate for the weakness of the route planner.

Still according to Axel Heinrich, the use of third-party applications by customers instead of the route planner does not allow communication with the car battery, which makes the user experience complex and stressful.

Volkswagen’s objective is therefore to take advantage of users’ consent to the exploitation of their data, including that recovered by the free services which exploit them (Google, Waze, Apple).

A potential way to increase efficiency in this area would indeed be to exchange data with third parties such as Google. For example, VW’s internal mapping platform would improve its functionality, while the Mountain View firm would be able to monitor in-car metrics, such as charging status.

The good news comes from the group’s awareness. Because the negative feedback concerned the ID range as much as the Cupra or even Audi and Skoda vehicles.

Another upcoming development, the haptic touch buttons should once again give way to physical controls on the steering wheel. A good point as this choice was criticized due to the reduction in ergonomics it caused. The German group will now have the difficult task of rethinking the multimedia system.