Update: Added a response from VW China.
Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei with plans to buy the latter's self-driving unit for billions of euros, German media reported.
(Image credit: Seres)
Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei to buy the latter's self-driving unit for billions of euros, German magazine Manager reported today.
Volkswagen executives have been negotiating for months on the deal, which also involves technology systems that Volkswagen doesn't specialize in, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Volkswagen China said it had no comment, Chinese media outlet Cailian reported on Friday.
Notably, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said Wednesday that he expects all cars will be able to drive autonomously within 25 years, and the company is looking to forge new partnerships to become more self-sufficient in software.
This is not the first time that the media have reported a potential partnership between Volkswagen and Huawei in the area of autonomous driving.
In late October last year, Chinese tech media outlet 36kr cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that Huawei planned to form a joint venture with Volkswagen to develop self-driving technology.
The joint venture aims to provide solutions to Volkswagen as a supplier, and one of the ways the two sides are discussing working together is for Volkswagen to pay to be the controlling party in the joint venture, with Huawei mainly providing technology and intellectual property, according to the report.
The IP provided by Huawei includes not only software technology but also Huawei's chip-based IP, the report said.
Huawei will provide quite a few senior technical talents to support the joint venture, and Su Jing, a former self-driving business line executive and head of the smart driving product department, will join, according to the report.
However, Huawei later said that the report was untrue.
At the end of January this year, Huawei confirmed that Su had left the company. Su's latest destination is currently unknown.
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