German business publication stated that the Volkswagen Group and Huawei are in talks about the purchase of Huawei's autonomous driving unit.
Insiders tell Manager Magazine that Volkswagen executives have been debating sales for some months, and that this has included technology systems in which VW does not currently have expertise, as reported by the publication.
Huawei's smart vehicle unit, led by Wang Jun, a senior executive, stated last year that the company aspires to have driverless automotive technology in place by 2025.
Herbert Diess, the CEO of Volkswagen, stated on Wednesday that the car industry would have widespread autonomous driving within 25 years and that the business is pursuing new collaborations to improve its software self-sufficiency.
Several billion dollars are being invested by automakers and technology companies in the development of autonomous vehicles, with the hope of being the first to market in what many believe will be the future of transportation.
a sense of freedom
According to a September announcement by Volkswagen, the company is constructing a new electric vehicle (EV) battery system plant in Hefei, the capital of China's Anhui province, with manufacturing expected to start in 2023. Anhui Components Company, a new component factory specializing in the assembly of battery systems, will be constructed in the near future.
A controlling share in Volkswagen Anhui, the world's first Chinese joint venture to manufacture entirely electric vehicles, has been acquired by Volkswagen. As a result of its acquisition of VW Anhui Components Company in China, the Volkswagen Group has become the sole owner of a battery system manufacturer in Asia for the first time. a pre-assembled kit First and foremost, the Volkswagen Group has achieved exclusive status.
Volkswagen intends to invest more than 140 million euros on battery technology by 2025, according to their website. Initially, the factory will be able to produce between 150,000 and 180,000 battery systems per year, which will be sufficient for the local electric vehicle market.
A series of electric vehicles, the IDs, will be debuted in China, the world's largest automobile market, by Volkswagen in 2021. Last month, the company sold around 7,000 of these vehicles throughout the country, and it expects to deliver 80,000 to 100,000 of them this year.
According to reports, Volkswagen is also in talks with other Chinese partners about increasing control over its operations in Hefei, which has produced friction with those partners who are concerned that the company will be left stranded.
It will collaborate closely with VW Group's current battery plants, as well as its businesses in Braunschweig and Tianjin, China, to develop innovative battery system technologies.
In addition to the factory in Anhui, battery manufacturing facilities are now under construction in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to a company spokesperson (USA). According to the statement that accompanied the announcement, the Volkswagen Group hopes to be able to create more than a million battery systems per year within a couple of years.
