Volkswagen Group and Horizon Robotics plan to build a joint venture in an effort to develop automated and assisted driving systems for China.
On October 13, Volkswagen Group (Chinese: 大众汽车) announced that it will establish a joint venture with Horizon Robotics (Chinese: 地平线), a leading provider of computing solutions for intelligent vehicles in China, as part of its efforts to enhance its development competence "in China, for China" and to accelerate the pace of innovation, promote technological localization and further strengthen its customer focus in the country.
The carmaker will invest approximately CNY 17 billion (USD 2.3 billion) and take a 60% stake in a new venture, with the transaction to be completed in the first half of 2023.
The new unit will develop automated and assisted driving systems for China, integrating numerous functions on one chip to save costs and lower energy consumption, VW said Thursday. The fully integrated software/hardware technology will offer differentiated innovation and provide scalable as well as cost-efficient ADAS/AD solutions for VW's EV models in China.
Horizon Robotics, founded in Beijing in 2015, is a leading provider of energy-efficient computing solutions for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD). It is committed to enhancing next-generation smart driving experiences and has supplied customers including BYD, Volkswagen's Audi, Continental, Li Auto and SAIC.
Automated, intelligent driving enabled by advanced ADAS/AD systems is the key technology of future mobility and an area with high potential for market growth. The partnership of CARIAD and Horizon Robotics aims to accelerate the development and commercialization of software and hardware technologies in the automotive sector in China and make automated driving for Chinese customers a reality faster.