Audi and Siemens: virtual PLCs in production

2025-03-27 · Publisher : Audi · Domain : Industry 4.0 & 5.0

At Böllinger Höfe, Audi runs a body shop for the first time with Siemens virtual programmable logic controllers with TÜV-certified safety functions, running on its local production cloud EC4P.

### Background On 27 March 2025, Audi announces a world first in the Böllinger Höfe body shop: Siemens **virtual programmable logic controllers (vPLCs)** with a TÜV-certified safety function control production. Controllers are no longer boxes next to machines but software running on **Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P)**, Audi's local production cloud, in a data center several kilometers away. ### Key facts - First use on the body of a Lamborghini model built at Böllinger Höfe. - Siemens describes itself as the first company worldwide to obtain a TÜV safety certificate for a vPLC. - Technology partnership: Broadcom (virtualization and real-time industrial virtual switch), Cisco (Software-Defined Access network), Siemens (control). - Updates and new functions managed centrally, real-time monitoring independent of location. - On 27 January 2026, Audi rolls out EC4P more widely: in Neckarsulm, the A5 and A6 body shop runs in large-series production with vPLCs coordinating about 100 robots, and more than 1,000 industrial PCs have already been removed in German plants. ### Why it matters This is the shift from hardware-based automation to **software-defined automation**: control logic, including safety, becomes a virtualized IT workload. For automation and infrastructure teams, skills are redistributed (virtualization, real-time networking, OT cybersecurity) and AI can move closer to the process. ### Takeaway First documented case of a safety virtual PLC in automotive production, scaled to large series less than a year later.

Tags : Automatisation logicielle, Automate virtuel, Edge computing, Siemens, Automobile