At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Volkswagen revealed that it is opening a center of excellence for autonomous vehicle research and development under a new subsidiary, Volkswagen Autonomy, Inc.
Part of global subsidiary Volkswagen Autonomy GmbH, the center, set to rise at Volkswagen’s Innovation and Engineering Center California in Belmont, will “work towards making self-driving vehicles a reality at global scale,” according to a company release.
Volkswagen Autonomy, Inc. projects to hire 50 to 100 experts in Systems Engineering and Architecture this year and will leverage all of Volkswagen Group’s technology partnerships, with a goal of commercializing autonomous technology in the future.
“With our Volkswagen Autonomy subsidiary in Silicon Valley, we want to tap into one of the largest talent pools for autonomous technology in the world and combine it with our global scale and eight decades of experience in vehicle production,” says Alexander Hitzinger, CEO of Volkswagen Autonomy GmbH. “We see this work finding use across our Group brands as we tackle technological challenges and cost hurdles to make the promise of autonomous driving a reality.”
Volkswagen Autonomy already has offices in Munich and looks to open another subsidiary in China soon. The unit will handle all work for the Volkswagen Group in helping develop autonomous systems that have the potential to handle multiple stages of autonomous driving functions.
The Volkswagen Group anticipates the first-use cases for autonomous vehicles to come in the commercial sector, and Volkswagen Autonomy, Inc. will develop the production systems that integrate into Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles used for such tasks as autonomous taxis or goods transport – as demonstrated in the original ID. BUZZ electric concept. Volkswagen Autonomy, Inc. additionally sees “great promise for autonomous vehicles in urban centers to help reduce pollution and congestion.”
“With Volkswagen Autonomy, we are establishing a technological powerhouse, which brings the know-how of one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers together with the culture and the agile working techniques of the Technology sector,” says Hitzinger. “We want to offer the best combination of hardware and software, integrated in a package that provides life-changing benefits to our customers.”