Skip to main content

VW Announces Partnership with Autonomous Tech Gurus, Aurora

If, in the not-so-distant future, you’re riding in an autonomous Volkswagen Group vehicle, you’ll have Aurora Innovations to thank. That’s because today, the two firms announced a strategic collaboration to bring autonomous cars to the roads.

The Palo Alto, California based technology firm works primarily in the field of autonomous vehicles, working with automakers around the world.

“Our priority at Aurora is to make self-driving cars a reality quickly, broadly and safely,” said Chris Urmson, CEO of Aurora, in a statement. “And we know we will get there faster by partnering with innovative automakers like the Volkswagen Group.”

The announcement comes ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but VW and Aurora have been working together for six months now, to get sensors, software, and more integrated into VW’s platforms.

The collaboration builds on the promises VW made in its TOGETER — Strategy 2025 manifesto. Since then, we’ve seen SEDRIC, the first completely autonomous concept from the VW Group, towards which the Group will work with even more focus now.

Long before TOGETHER — Strategy 2025, though, VW was working towards autonomy. Since 2005 when it won the DARPA challenge, VW has been working to get autonomous cars on the road.

“Our vision is ‘Mobility for all, at the push of a button’,” said Johann Jungwirth, VW’s Chief Digital Officer. “This means that we want to offer mobility for all people around the world. Mobility also for children, elderly, sick and visually impaired people, really for all.”

As for what the system will look like for the user, it should come as no surprise that Jungwirth foresees an app-like interface. Users would hail a ride through their phone or from their key, which would be GPS tagged to let the car know where to pick you up. From there, the car would ferry you to your destination.

“Working with Aurora, a 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,” said Jungwirth. “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.”

The post VW Announces Partnership with Autonomous Tech Gurus, Aurora appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2CDLKZX
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers.  The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience.  So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf.  In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...
Post a Comment
Read more