December 4, 2012 The flood of features and functions in automotive infotainment systems drives the acceptance and demand of touch screens in cars, finds a study from market researcher IMS. But in order to implement really complex and sophisticated functions, touch screens are not the best technology. Read more

August 30, 2012 In the first week of September, Volkswagen will roll out its new Golf model, the generation seven. While the designers went to great lengths to reduce the overall weight, this does not apply to the electronic equipment. Te vehicle – or at least the options list - is packed with electronic controls, driving assistants and a new infotainment generation. Read more

August 23, 2012 In Oxnard near Los Angeles, Volkswagen of America has opened a research and development center dedicated to emission behavior of vehicles. The second major topic of the facility is testing vehicles under extreme climate conditions – from arctic to desert climate. Read more

July 13, 2012 Megatrends like sustainability, urbanization and materials revolution are forcing OEMs to build a web of partnerships that drive innovation – or to risk being left in the dust. Technologies like alternative fuels, electric vehicles, and advanced composites are partial responses to these megatrends, but understanding their impact on the industry requires looking at all of them in complete automotive ecosystems, according to a new Lux Research report. Read more

October 11, 2011 At the International VDI congress and exhibition “Electronic Systems for Motor Vehicles”, vehicle manufactures Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen are going to present the Combined Charging System for the first time. The Combined Charging System has been developed in close cooperation with American vehicle manufacturers Ford and General Motors (GM). Read more

June 23, 2011 During the final event of the European HAVEit research project 17 industry and science entities presented their contributions to technologies aiming at automatic driving. The event proved that several building blocks are rather close to series maturity. Read more

June 21, 2011 Global automakers including Audi, General Motors and Volkswagen are putting their horsepower behind wireless in-vehicle charging, a study from market researcher IHS iSuppli states. The technology allows motorists to recharge the batteries of their mobile devices while on the road. Read more

June 16, 2011 Car makers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen have agreed to jointly incorporate a number of common architectural elements for their on-board power network. These include an additional 48V section and a charging connector type for all electric and hybrid vehicles as well as CAN bus interfaces supporting partial network operation. Read more

May 24, 2011 At the third Autosar congress, automotive vendors provided insights into the maturity status of the software system. In the half decade ahead, the market penetration for the automotive standard software environment is poised to skyrocket. Read more

May 18, 2011 BMW and Volkswagen have developed prototypes of "smart" intersection assistant systems aiming at improving the safety in blind or complex intersections. The assistant systems demo for the first time a practical use of the car-to-x communications scheme. Both systems were developed independent of each other, but as a contribution to the Intersafe-2 research project. Read more

April 6, 2011 At the MOST Forum in Frankfurt, the first OEMs announced roll-out time lines for the latest version of the MOST infotainment bus. The Volkswagen group plans to integrate the fast data bus in Audi's A3 volume vehicle in 2012. Daimler pursuits a different strategy, planning to start with its flagship S-class models in 2013. Read more

January 11, 2011 Volkswagen AG Business Unit Braunschweig plans to use Infineon's Hall sensors in its electric power steering systems for vehicles. Infineon’s TLE4998C4 programmable linear Hall sensor will be used for various model ranges. Infineon has already started to deliver the chips. Read more

November 26, 2010 For the training of technical experts in the field of car service, Volkswagen increasingly employs augmented reality technologies. The digital projections enable the company to convey the complex technical inner life of the vehicles to the trainees much better than conventional methods. Read more

November 22, 2010 In the coming five years Volkswagen plans to invest the rather gigantic sum of 51.6 billion euros into the further development of its production technology and its vehicles. An unspecified but significant share of this sum will be dedicated to improving fuel efficiency and develop electric and HEV cars. Read more

November 9, 2010 Volkswagen has presented the HAVE-IT (Highly automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport) research vehicle to EC Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Nellie Kroes. The vehicle represents a further step to offloading drivers during specific situations and aims at further reducing the number of fatalities in automotive traffic. Read more

October 19, 2010 MOST150, the most recent iteration of the MOST automotive infotainment network standard, will be first implemented in vehicles from Audi. The company now concluded two MOST150 reference projects, effectively declaring the technology as “ready to take off”, as MOST cooperation puts it. At the same time, the group received reinforcement by five new members. Read more

September 16, 2010 An interdisciplinary research team of the Volkswagen group (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat) and the Braunschweig Technical University will conduct basic research on the field of automotive lighting. In particular, the “LichtLAB” will focus on innovative lighting technologies and active headlight systems. Read more

September 13, 2010 At applications in car-to-infrastructure communication processes aims a software that forwards safety-relevant information from the automatic c2i equipment to the dashboard without distraction the driver. The software has been developed by Volkswagen within the scope of the PRE-DRIVE C2X research project. Read more

July 20, 2010 In a move to coordinate its globally distributed e-mobility R&D activities, Volkswagen announced to bundle its advanced research efforts for electric vehicles. The company's US-based Electronics Research Lab focuses on battery technology. Read more

June 9, 2010 The Volkswagen Group is expanding its production capacities in China. Contracts for the construction of the plant were signed Wednesday. The production site will be located in Foshan, in the Southern Chinese region of Guangdong. Read more

May 26, 2010 Austriamicrosystems has announced that luxury car maker Audi as well as Audi's parent company Volkswagen has selected the AS8221 FlexRay transceiver for use in their Electronic Control Units (ECUs). The AS8221 fully conforms to the FlexRay Electrical Physical Layer Specification V2.1 Rev B and is targeted for use in ECUs connected to the permanent battery supply where the transceiver manages the ECU power-up via its inhibit output pins. Read more

April 28, 2010 During the Auto China trade fair in Shanghai, Volkswagen made clear it regards China as one of the most important centers of gravity for e-car development. The company plans to develop and build electric vehicles Read more