VW and Mobileye are expanding cooperation on autonomous driving

Europe’s largest car manufacturer announced on Wednesday in Wolfsburg that they wanted to quickly bring new driving assistance functions into series production. The cars should therefore overtake themselves on the motorway and stop automatically at traffic lights. The new technology will be used by the Group brands Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche. The company did not give an exact date. Further functions will follow later, in which the car will temporarily take over the steering itself.

“New automated driving functions significantly increase comfort and safety,” said CEO Oliver Blume. The collaborations in automated driving with Bosch and Qualcomm and with Horizon Robotics in China will be “continued in a focused manner”.

Driverless e-Bulli planned for 2026

The VW Group and Mobileye have been working together for years. Blume, who is also Porsche boss, strengthened the cooperation after he took over as CEO. Mobileye is already a partner of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in the development of a fully autonomous electric van ID Buzz. This collaboration will now be expanded, it said. Mobileye will supply further technology components for autonomous driving. The driverless e-Bulli is scheduled to go into series production in 2026. VW then wants to use it to set up a robotaxi service, which will initially start in Hamburg in 2026.

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Unlike his predecessor Herbert Diess, Blume increasingly relies on external partners when it comes to software. Diess, on the other hand, primarily wanted to use in-house developments from the Cariad software division he founded. Because program codes were not completed there on time, there were several delays in model launches. The electric models Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche Macan eletric, which are coming onto the market this year two years late, were also affected. After he took office, Blume prescribed a new strategy for the software subsidiary and also replaced the top management at Cariad.