In the Lisbon Software Development Center , around 300 software specialists will be designing digital solutions to optimize Volkswagen’s internal company processes and digital services; 100 IT professionals alone are focusing on the development of cloud-based services for utility vehicles. The current development objectives include extending the range of digital products for customers and setting up innovative services for database encryption. In addition to the new Lisbon SDC, Volkswagen already runs two similar centers in Wolfsburg and Berlin. The company thus reports that it is attempting to open development departments wherever an innovative environment and well-qualified staff are available to establish highly-specialized project teams. At the Wolfsburg Faculty 73, which is opening for business in spring 2019, Volkswagen will also be training its own software programmers in future.

With these measures, the corporation is responding to the challenges currently facing the German automobile industry: urbanization, sustainability, individualization and digitization are forcing the industry to develop more efficient business processes and new technologies with increasing urgency, according to a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation .