Volkswagen and Microsoft have agreed to enter a strategic partnership. Together the two companies intend to develop the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud, which will bundle all future digital and mobility services.
Volkswagen and Microsoft have entered into a strategic partnership.
Volkswagen
By collaborating with Microsoft, Volkswagen is taking a further step in its transformation from a car maker to a mobility provider. "The strategic partnership with Microsoft will turbocharge our digital transformation," said Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG.
Starting in 2020, Volkswagen is planning to roll out more than five million new, fully connected vehicles a year. All in-car services and the cloud-based One Digital Platform (ODP) are to be built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and will use platform services such as Azure IoT Edge. This will facilitate Volkswagen’s plans to expand existing digital services to its entire fleet and develop new ones.
New IT development centre in the U.S.
Volkswagen is planning to set up a new automotive cloud development centre near Microsoft's headquarters in the U.S. Around 300 IT specialists are expected to work there in future and benefit from Microsoft's cloud expertise. New Volkswagen Automotive Cloud developments will also be rolled out to other models of vehicle from the Volkswagen Group.