VW’s software subsidiary CARIAD, Horizon Robotics to build joint venture for ADAS, AD solutions

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Volkswagen Group today announced a new partnership between its software subsidiary CARIAD and Horizon Robotics, one of the leading computing solution providers for smart vehicles in China, as part of efforts to speed up the regional development of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD) systems for the Chinese market.

Through the cooperation, CARIAD and Horizon Robotics plan to set up a joint venture with the former as the majority shareholder (60%).

Photo credit: Volkswagen Group

The German auto giant said it will invest roughly €2.4 billion in the cooperative project with Horizon Robotics. The transaction is expected to be fulfilled in the first half of 2023.

To meet the demands of the Chinese market, CARIAD and Horizon Robotics will join hands to develop cutting-edge, highly optimized full-stack ADAS and AD solutions, through which diverse functions can be integrated into one chip, so as to increase the system stability, save costs, and reduce energy consumption.

The "integrated software/hardware" technology can stand out from similar kind of technologies and offer scalable and cost efficient ADAS/AD solutions to the auto group's BEV (battery electric vehicle) models in China, Volkswagen Group said in a press release.

Volkswagen Group also noted that the closing of the transaction is subject to the final signing of transaction documents between the parties involved, customary government approval, etc.