Volkswagen and automotive sector supplier Bosch announced on Wednesday that they have ended their joint development of assisted and automated driving functions in their Automated Driving Alliance.
German newspaper Bild reported earlier that VW had withdrawn, as the project was showing too little progress, despite investment of €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) to date. VW intended instead to buy in hardware and software, it said. The partner on the VW side of the alliance was its Cariad software subsidiary.
The partnership was launched in 2022 with plans for more than 1,000 experts to work on a joint software platform that would then be offered to other manufacturers. The first target was Level 2, in which the human driver continues to be responsible. Expanding the project was considered later.
According to information from VW, the partnership will not be pursued to Level 3, at which the driver can surrender responsibility.
Cariad announced earlier that there were other developments in the market and technology in Europe than had been expected at the start of the partnership.
VW is sticking to its aim of introducing highly automated driving to Europe and North America, chief executive Oliver Blume said. He added that the partnership had yielded a strong technical basis.
"We are now building on this - with a clear focus on speed, scalability, and rapid implementation for our brands and customers," Blume said.
The withdrawal fits in with Blume's change of strategy for VW to rely on partners and suppliers instead of developing everything internally.
There have been delays in software development at Cariad, with model launches being postponed.
