The Volkswagen logo at a show in San Francisco (illustration).

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Yichuan Cao / Sipa USA / SIPA

A partnership has been concluded between the German automobile giant Volkswagen and the American software company Microsoft to develop autonomous and connected driving software, amplifying their collaboration in cloud computing launched in 2018, the two groups announced. , this Thursday.

Volkswagen aims through this partnership a "faster development of secure and comfortable mobility services," said in a statement Dirk Hilgenberg, head of the new software company of the automotive group, at a time when alliances between manufacturers and groups IT systems are multiplying.

Serial production scheduled for 2022

The Wolfsburg group will rely on Microsoft's services in cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

“This is the next step in our strategic partnership,” said Scott Guthrie, principal at Microsoft.

Neither the financial terms nor the duration of this new contract have been disclosed.

Volkswagen and Microsoft have been working together since 2018 to set up a cloud platform for the exchange of data between connected vehicles.

The first tests of a fleet of connected vehicles should be carried out in 2021 for series production scheduled for 2022, the statement said.

At the heart of the race for the autonomous and connected car of the future, software has become strategic for Volkswagen, an area where it intends to invest 27 billion euros by 2025. The “Car.

Software ”launched in 2020 must bring together up to 11,000 experts to work on“ VW.OS ”, the future operating system common to the group's cars, connected to the cloud.

More and more alliances

By 2025, Volkswagen wants to develop 60% of the software used in cars internally, while today 90% is supplied by OEMs.

The subject is all the more important and sensitive as the production and delivery of the two current flagship models, the electric ID.3 and the new Golf, were disrupted last year by computer bugs.

Alliances between manufacturers and IT giants are multiplying so that software can in the future continuously improve driving and vehicle safety, which requires enormous computing power.

General Motors (GM), the number one American, has also just joined forces with Microsoft to accelerate the marketing of its autonomous vehicles.

In 2020, the French Renault had for its part announced a partnership with Google Cloud.

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