Volkswagen Group’s software company, Car.Software Organisation will collaborate with Microsoft to build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP) on Microsoft Azure to deliver automated driving experiences even faster at global scale.
With ADP running on Azure, Car.Software Organisation will increase the efficiency of the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AD functions for passenger cars across Volkswagen Group brands.
Volkswagen and Microsoft have been strategic partners on the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud since 2018.
The first VW.AC connected test fleets are expected to hit the road in 2021.
Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of the Car.Software Organisation, commented:
“As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development. We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft’s cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services.”
Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI at Microsoft, commented:
“This is the next evolution of our foundational work with the Volkswagen Group to enhance their transformation as a software-driven mobility provider” “The power of Microsoft Azure and its compute, data and AI capabilities will enable Volkswagen to deliver secure and reliable automated driving solutions to their customers faster.”
By 2025, the Group will invest around 27 billion euros in digitalization and increase the proportion of in-house development of software in the car to 60% from 10% today.
