Joint Venture: Volkswagen and Microsoft Announce a Strategic Partnership

The German car maker Volkswagen and tech giant Microsoft has announced a partnership. Both the companies will collaborate to create Volkswagen’s automotive cloud.

The new cloud services will be Volkswagen’s future digital services and mobility offerings. Microsoft will help the company to carry out its digital transformation and turn Volkswagen into a mobility provider. With that, a vehicle fleet and a digital ecosystem will be formed, i.e. “Volkswagen We”. The German car maker aims to fully connect 5 million of its brand new vehicles every year from 2020. The process will be a part of IoT (internet of thing) in the cloud.

Both Volkswagen and Microsoft will make the base for an all-inclusive industrial automotive cloud. Volkswagen’s all in-car services and the automotive cloud will be developed on Azure ( Microsoft’s cloud platform).

Microsoft can leverage regular mobility services across its platform by developing Volkswagen’s automotive cloud. It will also help the company to offer new services and solutions such as telematics, in-car consumer experiences and establish a connection between the cloud and the cars.

Volkswagen will set up a new automotive cloud development office in the US. In the future, the solutions that would be created by this partnership will be launched to Volkswagen Group brands across the world.

 “Volkswagen is harnessing technology to digitally transform and deliver innovative new connected car services to its customers. The world's leading companies run on Azure, and we are thrilled that Volkswagen has chosen Microsoft. Together we will reimagine the driving experience for people everywhere,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.