You could call it a catch-up play. Volkswagen just signed up with Silicon Valley start-up Aurora to quickly develop Autonomous Vehicles. But don’t look for AVs to be in Volkswagen’s showrooms anytime soon. That’s not what this deal is about. Aurora’s founders bring a backdrop of experience from Google and Tesla. Their task is to help shrink the time frame for VW to get AVs into production. And that will launch the giant German automaker into the business of mobility services.
John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
