Berlin Sep 30 (IANS) In its bid to become a mobility provider with fully connected vehicle fleet German automobile group Volkswagen has entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft to leverage the US software giant s Cloud expertise.
As part of the partnership the two companies will collaborate to develop the "Volkswagen Automotive Cloud" a dedicated platform for all future Volkswagen digital services and mobility offerings.
In the future Volkswagen s fleet of cars will become mobile Internet of Things (IoT) hubs linked by Microsoft Azure the German car maker said in a statement this week.
"The strategic partnership with Microsoft will turbocharge our digital transformation " said Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess.
Via the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud the automobile group plans to optimise the interconnection of vehicle Cloud-based platform and customer-centric services for all brands.
"Volkswagen is harnessing technology to digitally transform and deliver innovative new connected car services to its customers " said Satya Nadella CEO of Microsoft.
"The world s leading companies run on Azure and we are thrilled that Volkswagen has chosen Microsoft. Together we will reimagine the driving experience for people everywhere " Nadella said.
From 2020 onwards more than five million new Volkswagen-brand vehicles per year will be fully connected and will be part of the IoT in the Cloud Volkswagen said.
In the future all in-car services for vehicles of the core Volkswagen brand as well as the Group-wide Cloud-based platform will be built on Microsoft s Azure cloud platform and services as well as Azure IoT Edge.
Volkswagen said it would also establish a new automotive Cloud development office in North America near Microsoft s headquarters.

--IANS gb/ksk