<\/p>\n
Volkswagen is accelerating the pace to automate its electric vehicles for Chinese customers. CARIAD, a wholly-owned automotive software company of the German auto behemoth, intends to set up a joint venture with Horizon Robotics, one of China\u2019s most serious auto chip developers, the company said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The German automaker plans to deploy around \u20ac2.4 billion to its cooperation with Horizon Robotics, a transaction that\u2019s expected to be completed by 2023 and is subject to regulatory approval.\u00a0Following the deal, CARIAD will hold a majority stake of 60% in the JV. It wasn\u2019t until 2020 that China moved to ease the rules that had previously barred foreign companies from owning majority stakes in local auto firms.<\/p>\n
The tie-up comes at a time of global chip shortage and surging semiconductor costs. A handful of automakers are already moving some of their chip production in-house to counter supply chain uncertainties. China\u2019s electric vehicle upstarts Xpeng and Nio have both assembled sizable teams to develop auto-grade chips, according to Chinese tech business publication LatePost.<\/p>\n
The deal came just weeks after Horizon announced it had received a strategic investment from China\u2019s state-owned automaker Chery Automobile.<\/p>\n
Together with Horizon Robotics, Volkswagen will be working on full-stack advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving solutions for the Chinese market. The goal is to \u201cdrive forward the integration of numerous functions on one chip, increasing the stability of the system, saving costs, and reducing energy consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vision is reminiscent of Nvidia\u2019s recently announced next-generation auto-grade chip that\u2019s designed to unify autonomous driving and in-car technologies. It\u2019s interesting to see Volkswagen forming close ties with a Chinese startup, while Nvidia\u2019s state-of-the-art auto chip is widely recognized as the most cutting-edge in the industry. Given the escalation of U.S. chip limits on China, it won\u2019t be surprising that supply chain diversification is on the mind of VW executives. The question is whether Horizon can deliver something that\u2019s up to par with its American counterpart.<\/p>\n
In any case, having an on-the-ground partner will likely help VW create more customized solutions for the world\u2019s largest auto market. As Ralf Brandst\u00e4tter, member of the management board of Volkswagen AG for China, remarks in a statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cLocalized technology development grants the region more autonomy to further expand its position in the dynamic automotive market. Cutting-edge technology comprising the full software and hardware stack, which the new joint venture will develop, will enable us to tailor our products and services even faster and more consistently to the needs of our Chinese customers. Teaming up with Horizon Robotics will allow Volkswagen to accelerate the development of automated driving solutions as part of our NEW AUTO strategy and drive the repositioning of our China business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Volkswagen is accelerating the pace to automate its electric vehicles for Chinese customers. CARIAD, a wholly-owned automotive software company of the German auto behemoth, intends to set up a joint venture with Horizon Robotics, one of China\u2019s most serious auto chip developers, the company said on Thursday. The German automaker plans to deploy around \u20ac2.4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1223852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1223850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1223850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}