I'm more surprised VW has anyone that understands software
This way you have hordes of "software engineers" who don't raise such matters. Maybe that's the reason why those German companies find it so difficult to hore external experienced consultants?
Two more words: "run away!"
As if this segmentation would improve cooperation between departments if every department is their own little mini company.
So now companies that do other things are calling themselves software companies so that their software development will not have to be a cost center. Or "technology companies", as Bloomberg, e.g., which delivers financial news, calls itself now.
It is deeply stupid, but entrenched. I don't know how software stands at SpaceX, which is a "technology company" that, nominally, makes rockets. Is the software that runs in processors physically on board a rocket production, thus a profit center, while the stuff that runs on the ground is facilities, thus a cost center?