Volkswagen and Microsoft Announce Partnership

Volkswagen and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to develop "Volkswagen Automotive Cloud". Entering into a strategic partnership, Volkswagen and Microsoft will be collaborating to develop the "Volkswagen Automotive Cloud" which will be one of the largest dedicated automotive industry clouds for all future Volkswagen digital services and mobility offerings.

• With Volkswagen partnering up with Microsoft, they are taking a massive step in its digital transformation into a mobility provider with a fully connected vehicle fleet and the digital ecosystem "Volkswagen We".
  
  From 2020 onwards, more than 5 million new Volkswagen brand vehicles per year will be fully connected in the clouds and will be part of the Internet of Things (IoT). The partnership between the two companies will lay the foundation for combining the global cloud expertise of Microsoft with the experience of Volkswagen as an automaker with a big presence in the global market.

• The two companies will work together to develop the technological basis for a comprehensive industrial automotive cloud. In the future, all in-car services will be built on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and services as well as Azure IoT Edge. This includes Vehicles of the core Volkswagen brand as well as the Group-Wide cloud based platform (also known as One Digital Platform, ODP).
  
  Via the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud, Volkswagen will be optimising the interconnection of the vehicles, the cloud-based platform and customer-centric services for all brands, such as the "Volkswagen We" ecosystem.
  By building the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud, Volkswagen says it will be able to give consistent mobility services across its entire portfolio and will provide new services and solutions such as in-car consumer experiences, telematics and securely connect data between the car and the cloud.
  
  Volkswagen will establish a new automotive cloud development office in North America near Microsoft’s headquarter as part of their new entity. To help usher in a new wave of automotive transformation, Microsoft will provide hands-on support to Volkswagen as it ramps up its new automotive cloud development office, including resources to help drive hiring, human resources management and consulting services. The workforce is expected to grow to about 300 engineers in the near future.
  
  Microsoft will provide the access to cloud expertise across their organisation so Volkswagen developers and engineers can benefit and learn from Microsoft’s strong culture of collaboration and agility and can transfer those experiences into the core Volkswagen organisation.
  
  In the long term, the solutions developed through the strategic partnership will be rolled out to other Volkswagen Group brands in all regions of the world, building the foundation for all services of the brands. This includes the Volkswagen ID. Electric family as well as conventionally-powered models. In the future, Volkswagen’s fleet of cars will become mobile ‘internet of things’ hubs linked by Microsoft Azure.