The Volkswagen Group terminates the cooperation with the US startup Aurora.
Looking for cooperation partner in the field of autonomous driving has Volkswagen found the startup Aurora. As announced last summer, Volkswagen even wanted to buy the startup. Aurora was from u. a. Chris Urmson, who worked on Google on Autonomous Driving founded. Since then, there is always interest in Aurora.
Volkswagen study I.D. VIZZION Source: VW
Amazon has invested in the startup. The money is also used to the Lidarspezialisten Blackmore to take over. It was recently announced that the manufacturer Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) With Aurora wants to work together after the partnership with Renault burst. The agreement between FCA and Aurora could have come about because the liaison between Volkswagen and Aurora is over.
Volkswagen rather wants with the automaker ford work together, its startup Argo AI the development accelerates for Ford. Officially, Volkswagen stated that the contract with Aurora had expired and that it was now in talks with Ford. These talks already started At the end of last year and now seem to be on the home stretch. It is also about autonomous driving but also about e-mobility.
A contract extension, so reports from the environment of the negotiations between Aurora and Volkswagen, did not want the German car manufacturer. Nevertheless, some projects have been completed successfully. Also unofficial sources want to know that the cooperation between Ford and Volkswagen will be completed this summer.
Meanwhile wants the VW subsidiary Audi the cooperation alliance of BMW and Mercedes Benz connect. Whether this has played a role in the previous negotiations is unknown. But the three companies are also interested in the share HERE common.
About David Fluhr
I’ve been writing about Autonomous & Connected Driving since 2011 and also talk about it on other sites like the Smart Mobility Hub. I studied social sciences at the HU Berlin and since 2012 I am a freelance journalist. Contact: mail@autonomes-fahren.de