VW in Talks to Partner Up with Waymo

The Volkswagen Group is exploring a partnership with Google’s mobility service, Waymo. The deal would be for Europe, reports Germany’s Manager Magazin.

Herbert Diess, VW’s CEO, wants to spend 12 billion euros to buy a 10% stake in the company but lacks backing from the supervisory board, according to the report.

VW’s suite of MEB-based electric vehicles will all come with the physical hardware necessary for autonomous driving, but won’t come from new with the software for it. The company will instead work on designing safe autonomous tech and install it as soon as it becomes legal.

A partnership with Waymo, already a player in the autonomous realm, could accelerate VW’s plans to introduce autonomous capability and become a “mobility” company.

The first MEB-based vehicle, currently known as the I.D. (though Nio has also been tipped as a potential name) is due out next year.

[source: Automotive News]

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