Jan. 4 (UPI) — Volkswagen and Hyundai are teaming up with an autonomous car startup in Silicon Valley, according to company announcements Thursday.
Aurora Innovation, founded a year ago by former leaders of self-driving vehicle units at Google and Tesla, announced separate partnerships with the automakers.
Rivaling Google’s autonomous Waymo, Aurora already boasts a staff of experts and is hoping support from VW and Hyundai will give it an edge against established competitors.
Executives from both motor companies said they hope to have Aurora’s self-driving software in production vehicles by 2021.
Along with developing computer systems to pilot cars without people behind the wheel, Aurora is testing how those systems would work with lasers, radar and cameras.
Neither motor company nor Aurora is disclosing financial terms of the partnerships. Volkswagen’s chief digital officer told Forbes its company is paying for “engineering work, components and licensing of software.”
