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[Hefei, October 28, 2026] At its first Tech Day, Volkswagen Group China unveiled VEGA – its fully in-house developed, evolving local technology stack. Unifying three core technology pillars – platform, electronic architecture and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) - with scale, cost efficiency and customer-centric responsiveness, VEGA marks Volkswagen as the only international OEM in China with a locally developed in-house tech stack. The Group in China also ushers in a new era of "In China, Beyond China": building on local innovation, Volkswagen is scaling up exports of both China-built products and China-developed technologies to the markets in the Global South, including localizing the Compact Main Platform (CMP) and the China Electronic Architecture (CEA) in targeted markets as the technology foundation of the Group’s new-generation products for the Global South.
Oliver Blume, CEO Volkswagen Group: “China is a key innovation engine for the Volkswagen Group - and increasingly a product and tech hub for our global markets. By strengthening our local technology capabilities, we are accelerating innovation for our customers in China and bringing China-developed intelligent and electrified technologies, as well as next-generation products, to markets around the world. We call it in China, beyond China.”
Ralf Brandstätter, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG for China and Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China: “Four years ago, we set out to fundamentally strengthen Volkswagen’s competitiveness in China with our ‘In China, for China’ transformation. We brought innovation closer to the customer, combining China’s speed and technological dynamism with Volkswagen’s engineering excellence and uncompromising standards for safety and quality. Our own integrated tech stack is the tangible result: the capability to develop, integrate and scale cutting-edge technologies faster and more cost-effectively. This not only strengthens our competitiveness in the local market, but also opens up new business opportunities beyond China.”
Ralf Brandstätter unveiled “VEGA”, the Volkswagen Group Tech Stack
The Volkswagen Group Tech Stack – “VEGA”
Named after one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere, VEGA is Volkswagen Group China’s proprietary, continuously evolving local technology stack built to Chinese customers’ demands. By combining local innovations with Volkswagen Group’s top-notch engineering standards, VEGA is designed to deliver the best overall tech package – high-quality drivability, reliability across all scenarios, with safety as the top priority.
It unifies three core technology pillars: the electronic architecture, next-generation vehicle platforms, and the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). This design delivers seamless synergy across all technology domains, guarantees fully independent and agile technology iteration, and promises a consistently outstanding and trusted customer experience throughout the vehicle lifecycle.
Thomas Ulbrich, CEO of Volkswagen China Technology Company (VCTC) and CTO of Volkswagen Group China, said: “VEGA is the best testament to four years of strong efforts in our local R&D system. From our electronic architecture to the NEV vehicle platforms and reliable ADAS features, we build intelligent mobility that is trustworthy and safe. This is our Volkswagen Super Standard in action: decades of Volkswagen engineering excellence, translated into rigorous testing and validation, redefining industry benchmarks in safety, quality and reliability.”
Thomas Ulbrich: Volkswagen Group is the Champion of Platforms for the ICV era and beyond.
Volkswagen Group CMP Platform
The Compact Main Platform (CMP) and the China Scalable Platform (CSP) are Volkswagen’s locally developed intelligent, electrified platforms, which are natively built for the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) era and fully integrated with the China Electronic Architecture (CEA). CMP covers A-segment BEVs and PHEVs, while CSP supports full-size and flagship BEVs and EREVs, addressing broader customer groups.
On drivability, both platforms deliver effortless control. CMP brings B-segment driving dynamics to compact cars, combining a 54:46 front-to-rear weight distribution with multi-link rear suspension for stability and comfort. And CSP brings A-segment agility to full-size flagships, with a turning radius below 5.5 meters and 0–100 km/h acceleration in 4.1 seconds.
On efficiency, CMP has over 600 kilometers of range at around 11 kWh per 100 kilometers (CLTC) for the most efficient variant and can charge from 30 to 80 percent in just 25 minutes. CSP targets over 800 kilometers for BEVs at under 13 kWh per 100 kilometers as the lowest consumption option, and over 1,500 kilometers of combined range for EREVs, while enabling 10 to 80 percent charging in 13 minutes through a high-voltage architecture with a peak voltage exceeding 850 volts.
Both CMP and CSP platforms adhere to the Volkswagen Super Standard – the basis of Volkswagen’s promise to its customers for high-level efficiency, drivability and safety. They are achieved and proven through a stringent validation process called “Volkswagen Group Super Cycle”, a unique testing procedure that goes far beyond the national standards. The two platforms set a new industry benchmark for vehicle platform engineering - from microscopic material analysis, through core component testing, whole-vehicle system verification, nano-level problem tracing to rapid workshop iteration.
As one of the prominent examples, VCTC deployed a “24K long-stroke whole-vehicle road simulation durability test rig”, which reproduces road loads equivalent to 15 years and 300,000 kilometers of driving, challenging every individual part and the whole assembled vehicle; at the FAW-VW Nong’an proving ground, which covers 6 million square meters with about 60 kilometers of test roads, a 9.94-kilometer high-speed oval with banking of up to 48.8 degrees tests stability at up to 250 km/h, and the durability program includes 18 weeks of dynamic corrosion cycling. At SAIC Volkswagen’s Safety Test Center, more than 20 rollover tests, corkscrew and sand-trip scenarios are conducted.
Rigorous validation standards, paired with a safety-first underlying design philosophy, deliver all-round protection for occupants on every journey. In the critical area of powertrain safety in severe collisions, the Motor Traction Limiter system featured on Volkswagen’s CMP and CSP platforms cuts motor power output within 5 milliseconds, significantly reducing the risk of unintended re-acceleration and the chance of secondary accidents. At the same time, the high-voltage battery system discharges down to a safe voltage level in just 5 seconds — a response time only 1/12 of the national standard requirement (60 seconds), clearing high-voltage safety hazards.
Therefore, CMP and CSP models are fully fit to achieve five-star C-NCAP ratings and the top result “Good” across all C-IASI safety categories.
Frank Han, CARIAD China CEO, gives a deep dive on the CEA architecture.
Volkswagen Group CEA Architecture
With the CEA, Volkswagen puts software at the center of its vehicle development. Every car equipped with the CEA is a software defined vehicle.
Volkswagen is the only international OEM in China with an in-house electronic architecture designed to cover its full portfolio, from compact to full-size vehicles and from battery-electric to combustion powertrains. It is engineered around a 3-month major software capabilities update drumbeat, and a full architecture upgrade every two years – ensuring the cars agilely evolve with drivers throughout their ownership journey.
CEA has been deployed in five locally produced pure electric Volkswagen models in 2026, including the ID. UNYX 06, ID. UNYX 07, ID. ERA 5X, ID. AURA T6 and ID. AURA L5.
In 2027, locally produced PHEV and ICE models will be equipped with the CEA, adding intelligence to our combustion engine vehicles. In the same year, the first major CEA update will achieve full central computing for cockpit and ADAS, targeting L3 tech readiness and deeper AI Agent integration. By 2029, CEA 3.0 will evolve into a fully Agentic AI-based architecture, paving the way for L4 AI driving and seamless AI Agent integration into users' daily intelligent ecosystems.
At the core of CEA development and testing is C-Brain, the Group’s in-house AI-powered toolchain. C-Brain transforms the traditional linear software development process into an AI-driven, continuously optimized development “flywheel”, where AI agents participate in initial engineering solution design and code generation, while assisting with testing and validation.
With C-Brain, Volkswagen has industrialized AI and the efficiency gains are substantial. In software feature testing, processes that previously took up to 3 days can now be completed in just 2 to 3 hours, representing up to a 36-time efficiency improvement. In software issue diagnosis, the full cycle from problem localization and fixing to version release previously required approximately two weeks of cross-team collaboration, but now takes only 20 minutes, which is a 1,008-time efficiency increase, enabling issues to be resolved in the time it takes to finish a cup of coffee.
Starting in Q3 2026, Volkswagen Group has rolled out AI Agents across all CEA-powered models, proactively anticipating user needs through natural voice interaction spanning cockpit control, trip planning and entertainment, with privacy protection baked in.
Meanwhile, safety and reliability are engineered into CEA at its very foundation. The architecture is designed around redundancy and resilience – from multiple door-unlocking pathways after a collision, independent backup modules, to encryption so strong that it would take the world's fastest supercomputer over a decade to crack.
Dr. Huang Chang, CTO of CARIZON, introduces Volkswagen Group China's advanced driver assistance solution.
Volkswagen Group China ADAS Solution
ADAS has become a decisive factor in car-buying decisions. Chinese customers expect assistance to make driving easier, more enjoyable and safer. Therefore, Volkswagen ADAS is built to deliver a top-tier, human-like and reliable solution in China, for China.
Volkswagen Group China has launched its first in-house full-scenario L2++ solution, Hyper Sense 8 (HS8) through its local intelligent driving center CARIZON. Tapping into local know-how and speed while staying close to customers’ needs, it combines advanced software‑driven decision‑making, Volkswagen’s deep expertise in vehicle‑level control, and highly efficient computing power, delivering an intelligent driving experience that ranks among the industry’s top-tier.
In 2026, HS8 will be fitted to seven new NEV models across the Group’s three joint ventures, with more in the pipeline. Tailored to China’s complex road scenarios, HS8 can realize both urban and highway Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) plus full-scenario parking.
This rapid development was possible because AI is deeply integrated into the development of Volkswagen ADAS from the very beginning: GAIA 2.0, the Group’s in-house AI world model, works like a highly intelligent virtual test track. Every day it runs ADAS safety simulations equivalent to five million kilometers of driving, drawing on as many as 30 million driving scenario clips. Effective data utilization increases by up to 10 times and long-tail scenario data collection by 50 times compared with the Group’s previous solution, and the system is targeting the equivalent of 10 million kilometers of training data per day for L3 automated driving – so that rare and unexpected situations are learnt in advance, before a customer ever encounters them on the road.
Based on the strong foundation, Volkswagen is set to achieve L3 automated driving technology readiness in 2027 and is developing its own L4-ready system-on-chip, the C7H, to bring more human-centric ADAS and automated driving features to customers. The next step is already taken: Volkswagen Group China has secured a L3 autonomous driving road test permit in Hefei. It allows real-world on-road testing and large-scale data collection and was attained under the toughest L3 regulatory framework yet, with the latest safety design mandates.
Ralf Brandstätter: From “In China, for China” to “In China, beyond China”
Building on the progress achieved in the Chinese market, technologies, vehicles and development capabilities created in China are complementing Volkswagen Group's global strengths and products for growth markets around the world.
In the new stage of the delivery mode, Volkswagen Group’s “In China, for China” strategy evolves into "In China, Beyond China" - a pivotal shift that positions China not only as one of the Group's most important markets, but as a central innovation and export hub for its global business, building up a unique strategic advantage for the Volkswagen Group.
Together with its joint ventures, Volkswagen Group China is turning its strength in China into new opportunities in more markets. To date, the Group has started exporting China-produced models, including Volkswagen and JETTA vehicles, to the Middle East, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Sub-Saharan Africa, with Mexico, Egypt and Vietnam set to follow by the end of 2026. More markets across ASEAN, South America and Africa will be added in the coming years.
Building on this momentum, Volkswagen Group is increasingly scaling up its locally developed technologies into broader global regions. The CMP platform, integrated with the CEA architecture, will establish the technology foundation for the Volkswagen Group's next-generation cars for the markets in the Global South. It supports customized development tailored to local market requirements and accommodates multiple powertrain options, including NEV, ICE and HEV. Before the end of this decade, South America will be the first region to bring technology developed in China into its local portfolio. The Group also envisions extending its China-developed technology solutions to further markets, including South Africa. As a result, CMP and CEA will help the Group define the technology standards for markets across the Global South and reinforce its global competitiveness, while creating new synergies and opportunities for the China region.
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