Volkswagen Partners Aurora Innovation For Self-Driving Cars

Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) AG (OTC:VLKAY) announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Aurora Innovation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV. The joint collaboration intends to introduce self-driving electric vehicles as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets in cities.

Started in 2016, Aurora Innovation is a leading self-driving technology company offering software and hardware for development of autonomous cars.

Experts from both the companies have been functioning together for the last six months to incorporate Aurora’s sensors, hardware and software such as, machine learning and AI technology in Volkswagen’s vehicles to develop self-driving vehicles.

Volkswagen AG Price and Consensus

This recent development is in sync with Volkswagen’s TOGETHER — Strategy 2025 under which, it aims to introduce highly automated self-driving systems in the market by 2021.

Per management, the company’s association with Aurora will provide a significant contribution to its mission of becoming a leading provider of sustainable mobility with self-driving vehicles. The company also aims to develop new MaaS solutions with high safety standards, top user experience and digital intelligence for its customers.

Last September, Volkswagen announced its plan to unveil a number of autonomous Level 5 electric cars, vans and trucks by 2021.

Volkswagen apart, Aurora Innovations has partnered with South Korean automaker, Hyundai Motor Company (OTC:HYMLF) . Under this partnership, the former will provide its self-driving technologies for the latter’s custom-developed models.

Price Performance

In the last three months, shares of Volkswagen have rallied 22.2%, outperforming the 9.3% gain of the industry it belongs to.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Volkswagen carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other top-ranked stocks in the auto space are Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) and Continental AG (OTC:CTTAY) , both carrying a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Gentex has an expected long-term growth rate of 9.7%. In the last three months, shares of the company have gained 5%.

Continental has an expected long-term growth rate of 8.6%. In the last three months, shares of the company have climbed 10.9%.

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