The car drives itself, the driver does things that are nicer or more useful than paying attention to traffic signs or getting angry at other drivers - autonomously driving robot cars are one of the central future topics for the automotive industry.

But their development is expensive and complicated.

Christian Muessgens

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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Two companies from Germany are now joining forces to gain more speed on the field.

As the Volkswagen subsidiary Cariad and the supplier Bosch announced on Tuesday, they want to jointly develop software that makes partially and highly automated driving "suitable for the masses and available to everyone".

This is a big step for the whole industry, as the head of Cariad, Dirk Hilgenberg, makes clear in the report.

"Through our cooperation, we will jointly strengthen Germany as a location for innovation." The first functions are to be installed in vehicles as early as 2023.

Daimler is ahead

The question of how and in what constellation the technology for self-driving cars will be developed in this country has long been the subject of heated debates. The industry oscillates between two extremes: some representatives of the classic car industry insist on developing the necessary systems on their own as much as possible in order to create their own ecosystem. On the other hand, there are automotive suppliers like Continental, who point out the limited possibilities of individual groups and call for far-reaching cooperation.

A month and a half ago, the Daimler Group received the first “internationally valid system approval for highly automated driving”, which is what the industry calls “Level 3” of automated driving.

The car can steer alone on the Autobahn at speeds of up to 60 kilometers.

The driver can turn to other activities.

However, the system is only activated for a good 13,000 kilometers of motorways in Germany.

"One giant step"

Up until August, Bosch had been working with Daimler on a system for a robotic taxi, when the two long-established groups from Stuttgart terminated the cooperation.

Instead, Bosch and Cariad forge an alliance.

"The formula of this partnership at eye level is: one of the world's largest car companies plus one of the largest automotive suppliers is a giant step for the development of automated driving," says their press release.

The goal is to work with more than 1,000 experts at both companies' locations, especially in Stuttgart, where Bosch is headquartered, and in Ingolstadt, where the VW subsidiary Audi is based and where Cariad also plays an important role.

According to the information, recruiting is ongoing.