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Volkswagen Wants to Acquire Huawei’s Autonomous Driving Business

The autonomous driving sector may be witnessing the union of two big players. Reportedly, Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei to buy the latter’s newly formed autonomous driving business for billions of euros, according to a report in Germany’s Manager Magazin.

Meanwhile, Huawei and Volkswagen China have both declined to comment on the matter.

Huawei’s autonomous division is part of the telecom and smartphone giant’s newest “smart vehicle solution” corporate segment that was initiated in 2019. The establishment of the smart car business unit led to widespread curiosity about whether Huawei will manufacture its own automobiles, although the company has constantly refuted any manufacturing aspirations, claiming that it aims to be the ‘Bosch of China’ or a component supplier for auto manufacturers.

For now, Shenzhen-based Huawei seems committed to this plan. Last year, it demonstrated its autonomous driving technology in a mass-produced vehicle by Arcfox, an electric car brand under Chinese carmaker BAIC. Huawei had provided the chipset and in-car operating system for the electric vehicle (EV).

As a tech company with self-driving capabilities, acquiring Huawei could benefit Volkswagen in achieving its ambitions to build futuristic vehicles. The German conglomerate has collaborated with Argo AI — a Pittsburgh-based startup supported by Ford and Volkswagen to develop a self-driving electric van in September 2021.

It is no surprise that Volkswagen is looking for a similar technology companion in China, which will be its biggest market over the next few years. Several Chinese autonomous car manufacturers have already established strong partnerships with carmakers, like Baidu which has a joint venture with Geely, and Didi has partnered with BYD.

Resignation of Huawei Autonomous Vehicle Division Head

The rumored acquisition comes at a crucial moment for Huawei’s autonomous vehicle (AV) team. The former head of the Chinese firm’s autonomous driving project, Su Jing, quit the company in January after allegedly making inappropriate comments regarding Tesla, accusing the autopilot system’s lethal accidents of ‘killing people’ according to Huawei.

Su’s aversion to robotaxis is obvious, and Huawei’s next move is being awaited since his resignation. He was quoted in an interview last year saying:

Any company that sees robotaxis as its ultimate commercial goal is doomed. Those who will be able to deliver robotaxis will be the ones working on passenger cars. That market is definitely going to be mine, just not yet.

The takeover of Huawei’s autonomous driving business will not be inexpensive. The company’s smart car section planned to spend a total of $1 billion on R&D for 2021 besides wanting to develop an R&D team of 5,000 with more than 2,000 of them focusing solely on autonomous driving.

Given that Huawei has already invested considerably in smart driving and has a growing client base, how and why a tech giant will give away such business that seems promising and is capable of taking the brand to another level remains a mystery.

Via TechCrunch



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