Volkswagen to Open Autonomous Technology Skunkworks in Silicon Valley

“With our Volkswagen Autonomy subsidiary in Silicon Valley, we want to tap into one of the largest talent pools for autonomous technology in the world and combine it with our global scale and eight decades of experience in vehicle production,” says Alexander Hitzinger, CEO of Volkswagen Autonomy GmbH. “We see this work finding use across our Group brands as we tackle technological challenges and cost hurdles to make the promise of autonomous driving a reality.”

Volkswagen Autonomy plans to hire between 50 and 100 experts in Systems Engineering and Architecture this year to fill the new North American office.

The plan isn’t to take away your steering wheel quite yet. VW predicts that its commercial vehicles will be the first to gain autonomous functions to automate delivering and taxiing.

“With Volkswagen Autonomy, we are establishing a technological powerhouse, which brings the know-how of one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers together with the culture and the agile working techniques of the Technology sector,” says Hitzinger. “We want to offer the best combination of hardware and software, integrated in a package that provides life-changing benefits to our customers.”

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