 |
| Volkswagen is developing its own chips for self-driving cars |
As company president Herbert Deiss said in an interview with Handelsblatt, Volkswagen will not accept self-driving cars with ready-to-use computing power: the German company plans to develop high-performance chips for autonomous vehicle programs and the necessary software.
Deiss said: It's about getting the best hardware possible, as this move enables Volkswagen to define processors more efficiently, which is similar to the situation in Apple and Tesla.
Extras to Handelsblatt: In order to meet the vehicle's high demands and achieve optimum performance, software and equipment must be manufactured by a company.
The German automaker will not manufacture the semiconductor itself, but it is hoping to obtain patents, and Cariad, the company's software division, will expand and develop the related technical knowledge.
This move will not give Volkswagen any advantage on the supply side. For nearly every manufacturing division that uses electronic components, the growing demand for automakers has always been an issue.
Instead, it is a reaction to Tesla, which can combine custom chips so the US company can develop new features faster than its competitors.
This move may be key to Volkswagen's goal of becoming a more flexible and technologically intelligent brand.
The move makes Volkswagen self-sufficient that does not depend on other companies for technological development, can define its own technology standards and functions and lacks commitment to other designer companies.
Previous Tesla cars relied on standard Nvidia hardware, but switched to a dedicated chipset to gain more control in developing fully automated and autonomous drive systems.
Likewise, most of Apple's enhanced performance benefits are due to the internal processor design, as it allows creating a processor that fits into the ideal product strategy without the need to design phones and computers for it.
It takes some time for the results of Volkswagen's design work to emerge as the company expects autonomous cars to hit the market by 2025 or later.