Of course, what the customer considers up to date in a new car could be restricted to what they see on the screens, and the development of the software can be done away from the car and delivered via over-the-air updates, or even off-board via cloud internet connection.
Speeding up the development of hardware is more difficult but, as with any development process, there’s always slack to be removed. “If we make up our mind, and we come together as a team like we did on Maverick, it could be just two years,”CEO Jim Farley said on an analyst call in October, in reference to the company’s US-only budget pick-up. Normally, a car is developed in around three and a half years.
VW is getting around the problem of the fast pace of electric battery development by coming up with the so-called ‘unified cell’ that stays the same shape no matter what the chemistry. The company’s preferred prismatic cell is better packaged than current systems and will make its debut in the Artemis project in 2023, the firm said last year.Start-ups are trying a new approach in which they put the vehicle together in modules rather than sourcing every part from individual suppliers.