Volkswagen, Ford To Jointly Develop Self Driving & Electric Vehicles

VW and Ford are investing a lot of money in autonomous and electric vehicles.

Volkswagen and Ford are expected to join hands for developing self-driving and electric vehicles. The two companies are likely to make an announcement at the end of this year. Several other automakers around the world are also discussing to collaborate in order to lower the cost of research and development of such vehicles.

Honda also plans to invest 2.75 billion dollars in General Motors. Honda wishes to occupy a stake in the GM’s Cruise Automation unit to jointly develop self-driving vehicles.

Volkswagen and Ford are currently in collaboration on several projects. One such project is IONITY, which also involves BMW and Daimler to set up fast-charging stations for electric vehicles across Europe.

Both the companies are investing hugely for developing self-driving and electric vehicles. VW Group is set to invest a sum of 34 billion Euros by 2022 for researching e-mobility and autonomous driving solution. The group also plans to make 2-3 million fully electric cars by 2025. VW has already designated 50 billion Euros to procure battery cells by 2025, for their MEB project.

Currently, VW is busy working with Audi on the ‘e-tron’ platform, which includes long-range electric vehicles.

On the other hand, Ford has also ear-marked 4 billion dollars for its self-driving vehicle operations and is believed to be on the lookout for investors. The company will then invest 4 billion dollars in their Autonomous Vehicle LLC until 2023. Recently, they also designated 1 billion Dollars for Argo-AI, which is a Pittsburg-based startup, researching on self-driving vehicles.

The emission norms in Europe were tightened in the light of VW’s diesel emissions scam. As a result, VW and Ford are under pressure to release more electric vehicles in Europe. They are also believed to be in discussion of increasing product and technological ties with each other.

Volkswagen Ford Self Driving Cars

– VW and Ford are expected to jointly develop self-driving and electric vehicles
– They are likely to make an announcement at the end of this year
– Both companies are heavily investing in e-mobility and autonomous driving solutions

Source – Reuters.com