Recently, Volkswagen (VW) announced that it has purchased a controlling stake in Volvo’s WirelessCar, which develops digital services for linked driving. The deal has been completed for approximately $122 million dollars. VW stated that the WirelessCar technology might help the company’s goal of providing customers with more value-added services. Customers will be able to securely and continuously transmit data between their automobiles’ operating systems and a cloud platform that the company is developing with Microsoft.
According to the latest agreements, Volkswagen would acquire 75.1 percent of WirelessCar. As a result, Volvo will be able to focus on commercial vehicles, which have been its primary focus since they sold Volvo Cars in 1999. When asked how much money it intends to spend on digitalization, electric vehicles, self-governing driving and other mobility services by 2023, VW stated that it aims to invest over 11 billion Euros. However, a large portion of the funds would go toward electric vehicles. WirelessCar features its own software and hardware stacks. Customers include Daimler, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, and Volvo Cars, for whom it creates digital services such as billing and safety and emergency breakdown assistance.
It’s also worth noting that VW recently made headlines as a result of its plans to ramp up manufacture of electric cars. This choice must be made by the company in order to meet European targets for reducing automobile greenhouse gas emissions that are more stringent than expected. They were made in response to the EU’s announcement that it intends to reduce CO2 emissions from automobiles by around 37.5 percent by the end of 2030.
This comes after Germany, the country with the largest automotive sector in the EU, warned that setting too high of a bar could harm the industry. As Herbert Diess, VW’s CEO, predicted, the company’s projected total vehicle sales in 2030 may rise to almost 40% in electric car sales alone. Altmaier said that the goals were beyond what was technically and economically feasible, according to Germany’s Economy Minister.
