On March 9, SAIC Volkswagen Skoda released a new generation of Octavia, named Octavia Pro in the Chinese market. This is a global model with pure pedigree on the MQB EVO platform, followed by Digital Golf and the new Audi A3 to enter China.
However, before discussing whether Octavia Pro can fully adopt the latest technology of MQB EVO, the first question we asked is whether the public software problem has been properly resolved? Will the software problems of digital golf be inherited by Octavia Pro?
Review: The new era problems of traditional car companies
Throughout 2020, software problems have always revolved around the Volkswagen Group.
The first to tear the opening is the Volkswagen ID.3. This is the first mass-produced model of Volkswagen Group's electrification transformation and MEB platform, and its importance is equivalent to that of Golf. If all goes well, Volkswagen ID.3 will be delivered to consumers in the spring of 2020.
However, at the end of December 2019, when ID.3 was put into production for one month and the output was about to break ten thousand, the Volkswagen Group first discovered a software problem-ID.3 system had a code defect and could not complete the software automation. upgrade. After the problem was first exposed, the Volkswagen Group did not publicly respond, nor even predicted the seriousness of the matter.
In order to advance the delivery plan as scheduled, Volkswagen's plan is: the first batch of 10,000 failed vehicles will be manually upgraded by engineers, and the second batch of 20,000 new cars will be upgraded through OTA.
But in fact, while engineers stepped up to fix code defects, ID.3 in the drive test still found more software problems. According to insiders, testers find at least 300 software vulnerabilities every day. Moreover, because the new MEB architecture covers a large number of electronic components and control units, engineers cannot find the key to the problem in a short period of time, and the software cannot be solved, which means that ID.3 cannot be solved. Become a truly smart connected car.
Throughout the first half of 2020, all the tasks of the Volkswagen Group around ID.3 are to solve software vulnerabilities. Few people have noticed that ID.3 has really begun to be delivered to consumers.It's already after July.
During this period, the attention of the outside world was attracted by another blockbuster event-the eighth-generation golf also fell into a software crisis. In May, German media took the lead to report that the delivery of the eighth-generation Golf produced on the new MQB EVO platform was suddenly suspended due to software problems in the new car and the possibility of affecting the normal operation of the engine. An internal investigation by the Volkswagen Group found that due to unstable software data transmission and online connection unit (OCU3) failure, it will directly affect Golf's eCall emergency call function.
is very similar to ID.3. Volkswagen’s solution is also to delay delivery, and engineers will solve the vehicle problems one by one. Before that, there were 15,000 brand-new Golfs on the way in the European market.
In the first half of 2020, two important models of the Volkswagen Group, ID.3 and Golf, both experienced software problems. The spearhead was directed at the digital transformation that the Volkswagen Group called out in 2018. As the world's largest traditional car manufacturer, Volkswagen has long been aware of the trend of the automotive industry toward intelligent networking. The software department Car.Software established in 2019 has two most important tasks to develop the vehicle operating system VW.os and the car cloud. Platform Volkswagen Automotive Cloud.
Nowadays, the MEB platform where ID.3 is located and the MQB EVO platform where the eighth-generation Golf is located have software problems. Moreover, whether the system cannot be automatically upgraded or eCall fails, it all involves the vehicle operating system VW. os and the automotive cloud platform Volkswagen Automotive Cloud.
Spread: the other side of the platform-based scale effect
When the eighth-generation golf entered China, it rarely used the nicknames of high 7 and high 8 in the past. Consumers followed the spread of car companies and called it For digital golf.
In the beginning, many consumers did not know how to interpret the word "number"? Before really touching this car,The most intuitive feeling of digital golf is that most of the physical buttons have been cancelled, and the operation of the functions in the car is handed over to the touch screen and voice. This transformation relies on the digital transformation of the MQB EVO platform, namely: comprehensively upgraded intelligent driving technology, highly integrated ECU, and multiple central processing units.
The core of these changes is to enable the eighth-generation golf to have an era-leading intelligent experience. In addition to a more intelligent human-computer interaction experience, the vehicle has the ability to continue iterating.
If software problems do not occur, the digital transformation of the Volkswagen Group will become a successful case of the transformation of traditional car companies.
But in fact, while the delivery of the eighth-generation Golf was temporarily suspended in May last year, the new generation of Skoda Octavia, which was born on the same platform, was also forced to postpone the delivery due to the same software problem; Audi A3, SEAT Leon, these are the main models of the MQB EVO platform.
This is the biggest challenge that the public has faced since they promoted the modular platform.
According to the Volkswagen Group, from the MQB platform to the MQB EVO platform, the important part of the upgrade is electrification and intelligence. The MQB EVO platform not only introduces a new generation of power engines, but also expands the compatibility of HEV and PHEV power combinations. Compared with the past, the hardware sharing rate of different brands of Volkswagen Group is higher.
As for intelligence, the MQB EVO platform emphasizes more advanced driving assistance functions and intelligent interconnection functions. It can be seen from the eighth-generation golf that Volkswagen has developed a new network architecture and control module for it to achieve high-speed data and signal transmission of intelligent systems. However, judging from the feedback of the actual user experience, the intelligent system itself has large and small vulnerabilities, such as sudden crashes, system interruptions, fault sounds, and so on.
Golf was discovered earlier because it was first put on the market. In January of this year, Volkswagen launched a recall in the European market, the content is the hidden danger of software failure of the eighth-generation golf, which involves 56,000 brand-new golf, the production date is before July 2020.
This time happens to be after the brand-new Golf solved the first software problem e-Call failure and officially delivered,The Skoda Octavia on the same platform also solved the same software risks at this point in time.
In other words, the first batch of MQB EVO models produced has more than one software problem. Before the formal recall, consumers did not know whether the failure they encountered was accidental or common. Based on the Volkswagen Group’s inability to do anything about this previous code vulnerability, we cannot even believe whether there are other software security risks in the golf after the recall.
Follow-up: Has the software problem come to an end?
In 2020, while the Volkswagen Group is filling the hole for software problems, the delivery of new cars is also speeding up to make up for the losses caused by the previous delay.
European media reported that since September last year, ID.3 has returned to the normal delivery rhythm, and the emergency software problem affecting the use of vehicles has been temporarily resolved. However, this does not mean that ID.3 users will be able to enjoy digitalization. The new experience brought about by the change. This batch of ID.3 is called the "incomplete version of the car", the APP connect function that supports Carplay is locked, and the user needs to upgrade to the store in the follow-up to fully unlock the function of the new system.
What dissatisfied this group of users is that because the first batch of "incomplete ID.3" involves a large number, users need to make an appointment in advance, and the vehicle needs to stay at the dealer for one day to complete the system upgrade. The OTA architecture that Volkswagen Group invested heavily in digital change before seemed to be useless in fixing the ID.3 issue.
Today, this new car with digitalization as a selling point has become the best-selling electric car in the European market without digital functions. After entering the Chinese market, digital golf, which focuses on digital cockpits, also began to receive some unfriendly feedback.
The biggest controversy is still in the intelligent system itself. Obviously, this generation of golf has not fully verified the ease of use and stability of the digital cockpit. Although software problems similar to those in the European market have not yet erupted, digital golf in the Chinese market also has slow feedback from the car and machine system, interruption of the connection, and inaccurate downloading. A series of small problems such as issuing control commands. These problems appeared in the car owner’s forum,It also gradually appeared on complaint websites, such as keyless entry failures and vehicle system alarms.
Software problems have caused digital golf to receive unexpected attention. On the other hand, the upcoming Octavia pro is also being recognized by consumers as the same golf platform. The biggest highlight of the MQB EVO platform is the upgrade of the electronic architecture. With the support of in-vehicle Ethernet, users can use more human-computer interaction related functions. From Digital Golf to Octavia Pro, these selling points are still continuing, but potential software problems on the same platform are likely to continue.
Figure | From the Internet
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