A new report indicates that German carmaker Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei for a possible acquisition of the tech company’s autonomous vehicle unit. The autonomous driving unit of Huawei is a fast-evolving enterprise that draws massively from Huawei’s rich vein of technology and proprietary products in the autonomous driving evolution. The deal is expected to be worth several billions of Euros, sources say.
Although Huawei was mum on the matter, this could be a win-win situation for both companies, as Huawei continues to grapple with the harsh US sanction regime that has heavily limited its capacity as a global player. The sanction regime had led the company to diversify its operations, leading to the setting up of a raft of businesses dealing in diverse products. Volkswagen China has also not made any formal statement concerning the news.
Since 2019 when Huawei created the autonomous driving unit, it has grown rapidly, tapping from the rich resource of technology available from Huawei, although there had been speculation that Huawei may develop its autonomous vehicle. However, Huawei’s goal is to be a component supplier for different car brands.
Volkswagen had also been pursuing electric vehicle dominance with some of the latest partnerships it had entered. The new direction in pursuit of dominance in the autonomous driving space seems to be part of the strategic goals of the German automaker. China remains a fertile business ground for Volkswagen. Indeed, it was the company’s largest market in 2020 and the outlook remains bright, moving forward. And the pace of development of autonomous driving solutions has been quite rapid. Recently AutoX reached a milestone of 1,000 RoboTaxis deployed across the country.
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(source)
