People familiar with the matter revealed that after Volkswagen suspended its research and development of advanced autonomous driving with Bosch, Chinese intelligent driving supplier Horizon Robotics may become Volkswagen’s global intelligent driving supplier.
The end of this cooperation is not a temporary technical disagreement, but a strategic adjustment for Volkswagen to reduce costs and increase efficiency, reduce investment in self-research, and reconstruct the global intelligent supply chain. The cooperation between Volkswagen and Bosch began in early 2022, when Cariad, a Volkswagen software subsidiary, and Bosch officially announced a comprehensive strategic cooperation to develop driving assistance and autonomous driving software for various Volkswagen brands.
In terms of chips, Horizon Robotics can provide computing power chip combinations ranging from a few TOPS, dozens of TOPS + computing power to hundreds of TOPS, suitable for low-end all-in-one machines, mid-range high-speed NOA, and urban smart driving. The chip coverage range of this leading company is the richest in the world and can meet the needs of many Volkswagen models.
Algorithmically speaking, Horizon Robotics took the lead in mass-producing one-stage end-to-end systems in China in 25 years, breaking the ceiling of domestic smart driving performance and creating a model benchmark. In addition, there are many algorithm companies in the ecosystem. In terms of comprehensive strength in software and hardware, Horizon Robotics is one of the few suitable partners that the public can find around the world.
In order to lock in the stable and reliable risks of the smart driving supply chain, after going through the inspection and selection of many leading domestic smart driving companies. In October 2022, Volkswagen decided to strategically cooperate with Horizon. Volkswagen invested in Horizon and established a joint venture company CoreCheng with Horizon through its subsidiary CARIAD.
In April 2024, at the 2024 Smart Driving Technology Product Conference held at Horizon, Volkswagen officially announced a mass production cooperation with Horizon based on the Journey 6 series chips.
In April 2025, Volkswagen officially announced that it had reached mass production cooperation with Horizon on urban intelligent driving algorithms. In November of the same year, both parties officially announced that they would independently develop smart driving solutions in the Chinese market through a joint venture, entering a new stage of “deep co-creation” of joint development.
Judging from the cooperation process between Volkswagen and Horizon, Volkswagen uses capital as a link and gradually deepens and expands cooperation from chips to algorithms to co-creation in a “point-to-line-to-face” approach.
In 2026, Volkswagen launched the largest smart electric product offensive in its history. In this offensive, Volkswagen’s SUVs, sedans and other models are equipped with mass production solutions developed by CoreCheng, a joint venture between the two parties.
Volkswagen has chosen Horizon Robotics for its most important intelligent pioneer model.
The successful cooperation between Horizon Robotics and Volkswagen in the Chinese market demonstrates mature mass production capabilities and a reliable foundation for cooperation. This is what the public needs most right now. Therefore, it has become natural to upgrade from Chinese market cooperation to global global market cooperation.
Leave a Reply