According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Volkswagen approached Aurora Innovation, a self-driving technology startup, with an intention to buy them.
But the startup, headed by Chris Urmson, former Chief Technical Officer of the Self-Driving Car Project at Alphabet, Inc., turned down the offer as the company wanted to be independent and retain the ability to work with multiple automakers.
Self-driving tech is the next frontier for the automotive industry. With large tech companies like Apple and Alphabet trying to get a lateral entry in the auto world with self-driving car projects, automakers like Tesla, Nissan, GM, Daimler and nearly every major car brand is doing their best to stay in the field of competition.
VW and Aurora announced a partnership at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. Both companies disclosed the two had been working together for months to integrate Aurora’s technology including sensors, hardware, and software into various VW Group vehicles. Aurora announced similar partnerships with Hyundai and Chinese startup electric car start Byton at the start of the year. Urmson told Bloomberg at the time that Aurora’s goal is to push its technology into as many vehicles as possible, which effectively rules out a VW purchase. – Motor Authority
General Motors poured nearly a billion dollars to buy Cruise Automation to give their self-driving dream a head start. Ford has set aside nearly a billion dollars to invest in autonomous driving tech startup Argo AI. And we now have Volkswagen hunting around Silicon Valley to find itself a self-driving technology company.
Opinion
This news underlines an emerging trend of auto and tech companies looking to cash in on the future of autonomous vehicle technology. Automakers need it far more than tech companies because they need to stay relevant in a self-driving future, just as they need to stay relevant in an electric future. Tech companies want it because of long-term licensing deals and other revenue opportunities that can support volatile revenues that come from an equally volatile industry.
Startups that hold out and remain independent are taking a risk, but if it pays off, it will do so in spades. For now, Aurora Innovation is clearly willing to take that risk by rejecting an offer from one of the world’s largest automakers with over 300 models under their umbrella – and Aurora’s client/partner of several months.
The waves of consolidation and cross-industry investments have been coming and going for a while now, and we expect that it won’t subside in the near future. Watch out for more offers, rejections and acquisitions as both EV and self-driving technology become the most coveted assets in the race for greener and smarter transportation solutions.
