Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG reportedly have agreed in principle to share electric and autonomous technologies for passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles, according to published reports.
Last October Ford and VW began discussing joint development for autonomous and electric vehicles, allowing both automakers to reduce their development costs and maximize their market access. The direction of those discussions has been uncertain, but the automakers had previously confirmed they are collaborating on the development of commercial vehicles.
Neither Ford nor VW has confirmed the new agreement, but it’s understood that the VW supervisory board will discuss the alliance this week.
Specifically, VW is expected to share its modular battery-electric vehicle (MEB) series with Ford: that is the portfolio of cars produced for the Audi, SEAT, Skoda, and VW brands with common processors and control technologies.
Volkswagen has indicated plans to build 22 million electric vehicles across all of its platforms over the next decade. At the same time, it is investing heavily to increase battery cell production to power its new vehicle designs.
