Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor have partnered with US self-driving technology startup Aurora Innovation to speed up their autonomous car programs.
The partnerships were announced at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, US.
Aurora, which designs and builds self-driving technology, collaborates with automakers on integration, pilot and deployment of advanced self-driving platforms into vehicles.
The partnership of Volkswagen and Aurora will bring self-driving electric vehicles to cities as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets.
It will offer expertise and experience bringing self-driving cars to roads rapidly.
Aurora is supporting Volkswagen to make their vision of the future ‘Mobility for all, at the push of a button’ becoming reality.
Volkswagen said the collaboration will provide valuable experience with the best engineering team to the ongoing development of software and hardware for driverless vehicles, and, additionally, mobility services for urban and rural areas.
The Self-Driving System can be integrated across Volkswagen brands for various product categories such as fully self-driving pods, shuttles or delivery vans to self-driving trucks without a cabin.
Volkswagen Group chief digital officer Johann Jungwirth said: "Working with Aurora, leading self-driving system company, will give us a giant leap forward in our mission to become the world’s leading provider of sustainable mobility, with self-driving vehicles.
"Our aim is to create new Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions which customers will be really passionate about because they have been tailored to the human with highest safety standards, best-in-class user experience and digital intelligence. For me this is the reinvention of mobility and the automobile.”
Officials from both the companies have been working to integrate Aurora’s self-driving system including sensors, hardware and software, such as Machine Learning and AI technology into Volkswagen's vehicle platforms.
Aurora CEO Chris Urmson said: “Our priority at Aurora is to make self-driving cars a reality quickly, broadly and safely, and we know we will get there faster by partnering with innovative automakers like the Volkswagen Group.
“This partnership establishes a deep collaboration using Aurora’s self-driving technology, and together we will bring self-driving vehicles to market at scale.”
Hyundai is planning to bring self-driving vehicles to market by 2021 by incorporating Aurora's self-driving technology into its vehicles.
Aurora and Hyundai will work on commercializing self-driving vehicles globally over the longer term,.
