Polestar‘s Head of Software Sven Bauer has left the Geely-backed EV maker after more than three years in the role, the executive announced on Friday. The departure comes as the company continues to struggle with several software issues across all its production models. Bauer posted about his exit on LinkedIn, describing his time at the Gothenburg-based brand as one of the most defining chapters of his career. “Today marks my final day at Polestar,” Bauer wrote. “I am deeply grateful to have been right at the center of the automotive industry’s most fundamental transformation.” Bauer joined Polestar in April 2023 from Cariad, Volkswagen Group‘s troubled in-house software subsidiary, where he served as Executive VP of Engineering for Advanced Driver Assistance and Autonomous Driving Systems. It remains unclear whether he departed the company voluntarily or was asked to leave. Polestar’s Software Landscape Bauer’s tenure coincided with a period in which software quality became one of Polestar‘s most visible pain points. The brand’s software stack is not uniform across its lineup. The Polestar 3, built on Volvo‘s SPA2 platform alongside the EX90, runs Volvo Cars‘ centralized Superset tech stack and uses an Nvidia Drive core computer. The Polestar 4, by contrast, sits on Geely‘s SEA architecture — debuted in 2020 and launched in 2021 with the Zeekr 001 — and leans on the broader Geely ecosystem for lower-level vehicle functions, connectivity, and telematics. All current models run Google’s Android Automotive OS for the cabin infotainment layer, with a custom Polestar-developed interface on top. Owners on Reddit’s r/Polestar and r/polestar3 forums have documented persistent issues including system faults throughout the last year, digital key failures requiring dealer visits, random sensor malfunctions, and software-imposed speed limits. As of Friday, the Polestar 2, the brand’s oldest current model, has already been subject to 32 recalls