The Volkswagen Group has announced plans to deepen its partnership with Mobileye in the domain of automated driving. Together, the companies will now look to bring new automated driving functions to series production, with Mobileye providing technologies for partially and highly automated driving based on its SuperVision and Chauffeur platforms.
In the future, Volkswagen Group brands, including Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche, will utilize these technologies to facilitate new premium-oriented driving functions to their model portfolios across different powertrain types. These include ADAS designed for highway and urban driving, such as automated overtaking on multilane highways in permitted areas and conditions, as well as automatic stopping at red lights and stop signs, and support in intersections and roundabouts.
Mobileye’s partnership with the Volkswagen Group extends to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, to which it will begin to supply further technology components for automated driving. In the long term, the Volkswagen Group aims to rely on its own complete in-house system, while its existing partnerships with Bosch and Qualcomm, as well as with Horizon Robotics in China, will be continue. All driver assistance systems are to be based on the software architectures developed by Cariad, Volkswagen’s automotive software company.
The autonomous driving company is also set to also provide technologies for driving functions with enhanced Level 2 capabilities within the Volkswagen Group. These capabilities will allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel, though they must remain attentive to traffic and be ready to intervene at any time. Together, the partners are also developing Level 3 functions that enable the vehicle to temporarily take over driving tasks in specified areas; drivers are not required to monitor the system continuously.
Furthermore, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will leverage Mobileye’s software and hardware to target Level 4 features and functions. Here, Volkswagen ADMT (a Volkswagen Group subsidiary) will implement these components in fully electric development platforms based on the Volkswagen ID. Buzz. The goal of Volkswagen ADMT is to bring self-driving ID. Buzz vehicles to series production for mobility and transportation services.
While detailing its partnership with Mobileye, Volkswagen further clarified the division of development tasks for driver assistance systems between in-house innovation and collaboration for its new E3 1.2 and E3 2.0 software architectures. Through this division, the OEM is aiming to streamline processes and reduce complexity. Its partnership with Mobileye, among other strategic partners, will help the Volkswagen Group accelerate the rapid delivery of the premium-oriented E3 1.2 architecture, while, in the long term, the Group will rely on its own complete in-house for automated driving across all brands.
Mobileye will offer certain production-ready functions for the new E3 1.2 premium-oriented software architecture. This new architecture, itself, is managed by Cariad and will be gradually implemented within the group by Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Porsche. As part of their product strategy, these brands will decide on the specific deployment of the systems and tailor them to a brand-specific driving experience.
For the future E3 2.0 architecture, the Volkswagen Group plans to forge ahead and consolidate its resources and development responsibilities within Cariad. Together with Bosch, Cariad aims to develop the Group’s proprietary complete system. This system will then be integrated into the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) – the future all-electric, fully digital, and highly scalable mechatronics Group platform.
