The Artemis Project – sounds something out of a Bond movie? Well, you are close, in a German sort of way. It is the new special assignment that has been commissioned at the Audi HQ for the accelerated development of more high-tech automobile models.
Markus Duesmann, the new CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, has put his signature on it and hopes to leave a mark with it. Heading this high-tech project will be Alex Hitzinger, a successful motorsport chief engineer, who is currently in charge of autonomous driving in the Group. As a first step, he has been charged with the development of “a pioneering model for Audi quickly and unbureaucratically,” says Duesmann. “With 75 planned electric models by 2029, the current electric initiative at the Volkswagen Group naturally ties up all our capacities. The obvious question was how we could implement additional high-tech benchmarks without jeopardizing the manageability of existing projects, and at the same time utilize new opportunities in the markets.” Duesmann added. The project team will be given a large degree of freedom and the entire Volkswagen group resources will be theoretically at their disposal for what is expected to bring changes in the entire model range across the group.
Newly appointed Audi CEO Markus Duesmann
Artemis will focus on new technologies for electric, highly automated driving with a specific model reference. Its first task is to create a highly efficient electric car that is scheduled to be on the road as early as 2024. The creative team will also develop an extensive ecosystem around the car, thus designing a new business model for its whole lifecycle.
Hitzinger had an illustrious career in motorsports. Starting as a development engineer at Toyota Motorsport, he was soon the youngest chief development engineer in Formula 1 at Ford/Cosworth. He was responsible for creating the first Formula 1 engine with a speed range of up to 20,000 rpm in 2006. Hitzinger built up the highly successful motorsport team at Porsche that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Endurance World Championship from 2015 to 2017. He set up and managed product development for autonomous vehicles at Apple in Silicon Valley, before joining the Volkswagen Group again in 2019 to develop autonomous driving and the ID. BUZZ at VW Commercial Vehicles.
Audi’s new boss expects him to enable ‘Artemis’ to provide a blueprint for a fast and agile development process at the Group, as agile as in a racing team. We can expect some wild ideas from Alex – after all, Artemis is the Greek goddess for hunting, and all things wild.
