Volkswagen Group’s Car.Software Organisation has announced it is to collaborate with Microsoft to build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform on Microsoft Azure.

The aim is to speed up the delivery of automated driving experiences faster globally. Also by running on the Azure system the companies hope to increase the efficiency of the development work across all Volkswagen Group brands.

Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of the VW Car.Software Organisation commented, "As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development. We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft's cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services.”

Volkswagen believe the benefits to ADAS and automated driving vehicles, which include greater passenger safety, congestion reduction and more comfortable mobility, are clear. However, to develop such systems requires huge computing power as they need to monitor multiple inputs such as road data, weather conditions, obstacle detection and driver behaviour. This means machine algorithms are required to learn both real and simulated vehicle usage.

Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI at Microsoft said, "This is the next evolution of our foundational work with the Volkswagen Group to enhance their transformation as a software-driven mobility provider. The power of Microsoft Azure and its computer, data and AI capabilities will enable Volkswagen to deliver secure and reliable automated driving solutions to their customers faster."

The Volkswagen Group plans to invest some €27 billion in digitilisation and software development by 2025. The first VW.AC connected test fleets are expected to be trialled in 2021, with a view to production in 2022.