The biggest names in the car industry are stepping up efforts to advance autonomous and electric vehicles.
This week the Volkswagen Group announced plans to invest €34 billion – by 2022 – in driverless cars, electric vehicles and innovative mobility services.
Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft said: “We are laying the foundation for making Volkswagen the world’s number one player in electric mobility by 2025. We are reinventing the car. We are making targeted investments in digitalization, autonomous driving, electric mobility and new mobility services by providing the necessary funds from our own resources. We are, however, doing so without sidelining existing technologies and vehicle projects, since this is how we will earn our money for the foreseeable future.”
And the company recognises the importance of aligning its strategy with climate targets.
“We have to complete the transformation toward producing more electrically powered vehicles – combined with digitalization, connectivity and mobility services – with utmost efficiency,” added Frank Witter, Group CFO.
Self-driving, electric mobility, is the direction of travel being adopted by car giants worldwide.
Jaguar Land Rover and Ford were both part of the largest ever road test of autonomous vehicles in the UK this week. While in September Toyota showcased its latest innovations in this area to investors in America.
And it could be a good move to go driverless sooner rather than later, with one recent report suggesting lives can be saved by using autonomous vehicles once they demonstrate ‘moderately’ superior capabilities than humans.
