Microsoft is collaborating with VW’s Car.Software Organization to deliver a cloud-based automated driving platform (ADP) more quickly.

“As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development,” Car.Software CEO Dirk Hilgenberg said. “We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft’s cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the two firms will leverage the compute and data capabilities of Microsoft Azure to “increase the efficiency of the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AD functions for passenger cars across Volkswagen Group brands.” The result will be a single scalable and data-based engineering environment through the combination of VW’s “comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions” and Microsoft’s “cloud and software engineering know-how.”

VW plans to invest over $32 billion euros in its digitization efforts by 2025, and it is seeking to improve its in-house software development from 10 percent today to 60 percent in that timeframe. But the first VW.AC connected test fleets will happen sooner than that, in 2021, with the production rollout expected in 2022.