Volkswagen is planning to compete with Tesla, according to a report by Germany’s Manager Magazin published on Thursday.
Volkswagen and Huawei are considering merging. Volkswagen would acquire Huawei’s autonomous driving business to compete with giants like Tesla.
At the moment, no information about the pricing is revealed but the deal is being addressed as revolutionary. Huawei’s self-driving capabilities have massively improved over the last few years and could soon compete with Tesla’s especially since Tesla seems to be struggling with maintaining its quality.
Tesla claims that its technology is crash-free, but the software is still widely viewed as unsafe if not directly dangerous. Meanwhile, Volkswagen has already experimented with autonomous vehicles, unveiling a prototype for a fully autonomous car all the way back in early 2017.
However, no follow-up was given on the prototype again. And its new merger further indicates that the carmaker is dedicated as the acquisition is going to be very expensive.
Huawei’s smart car division was set to spend a whopping $1 billion on research and development just for the year 2021. It also had ambitious goals of developing an R&D team with 5,000 members, 2,000 of which would be dedicated to autonomous driving.
It has also revealed an all-electric range of vehicles.
The company has also stated that it aims to produce 1.5 million electric cars by 2025. Last year, the firm released the ID.4 and the ID.5 GTX is set to be revealed soon. Both are estimated to give Tesla a tough time in the market.