The cloud-based platform to be built on Azure is expected to help in the agile development of automated driving functions
Volkswagen joins forces with Microsoft to build an automated driving platform. (Credit: Volkswagen AG)
Volkswagen Group announced that its Car.Software Organisation will partner with Microsoft to build a cloud-based automated driving platform (ADP) on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service.
The Volkswagen software unit will utilise Azure’s compute and data capabilities to accelerate its efforts to provide automated driving experiences at a global scale.
Car.Software Organisation, with ADP running on Azure, is expected to boost the efficiency of the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving functions for the range of passenger cars under the Volkswagen Group brands.
Car.Software Organisation CEO Dirk Hilgenberg said: “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.”
According to the partners, ADAS and automated driving vehicles need large-scale computational capabilities. Car.Software Organisation will address such challenges with Microsoft by making the developer experience simpler.
Besides, the software company will leverage the “learnings from miles driven” through a single database that will have real traffic data from Volkswagen’s vehicles and also simulation data.
The compute, data, and machine learning services from Azure and Microsoft’s expertise in agile software development are expected to enable one development environment for Car.Software Organisation’s developers across the world.
Volkswagen and Microsoft said that automated driving platform will help cut down the development cycles from months to weeks apart from efficiently handling the vast quantity of data.
The firms will begin working on the cloud-based platform immediately and will look to continuously expand its functional scope.
Besides, the partners plan to let technology partners to build tools and services that can be integrated with the automated driving platform to improve the creation of automated driving and advanced driver assistance systems solutions.
Microsoft Cloud + AI executive vice president Scott Guthrie said: “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.”